She’s Back!

Hey Y’all. It’s been awhile. I know. I know. That was rude and you thought I’d been carted off to a padded room. I’m sure you were all organizing a movement to free me. 💙 Alas, no glamorous story of freeing myself from the clutches of a mad man armed with only a bobby pin. Life just got in the way and I couldn’t get back in the groove. (Please tell me you can relate.)  It’s no excuse, because writing and recounting our adventures makes me happy. It is therapeutic and I like making others laugh. It fuels me. 

But truth be told, I almost threw out my cape and gave up writing completely. 

Now that my kids are grown. I’m no longer that busy working mom, shuttling kids to activities, fixing dinner, helping with homework, etc. I was questioning whether I even identify with this “cape wearing mom” person any longer. Like how can I even write about that sort of thing anymore? And if not that, what am I writing about?  Who am I now? It’s been a struggle and somewhat of an identity crisis as we just recently saw all our kids graduate from college and 2 of the 4 get married. My parenting role has changed so much I felt I needed to reinvent/rediscover myself. Then I went back and read my own words from a few years ago when this phase of life really began for me. I was surprised to see that I had already worked through these feelings. The irony that my own words were staring back at me was not lost. Sometimes it takes a brick…

My role is now more of a friend, a listening ear, an encouraging word. And sometimes a crisis counselor… if you have adult kids, you get me. It’s a slower pace. It’s a quieter place. At times I may miss the hustle and bustle, but I’ve done my job. My four kids are running their own circuses. And I get to sit back, watch, and laugh. It’s quite rewarding.

But that cape? Well I kept it. Because even adult kids need a crazy, cape-wearing mom to come to the rescue at times. And it makes trips to their place of employment a lot more fun. We are sorry for the chaos we caused in the Chick Fil A drive thru that one time. Oh and more recently at Orange Theory Lakeland. I wish I could say it won’t happen again. But it’s kinda my thing. 🙂

Bang. Right upside the head. It hit me. 

I am still the same “cape wearing mom” …just the 2.0 version. (That’s kinda alarming really. Like is the world really ready for MORE of me?)  I’m still me, a mom with that same “hilarious” approach to life.  Those things won’t change. The circumstances I face with adult kids will, but that alone doesn’t define me. So I actually dusted off that pink cape with the giant “A” on it. Even though the kids are grown now, there are still plenty of opportunities to whip it out. What can I say… I am my own little party. And I think we need more joy in our daily life. Balloons 🎈and confetti 🎉 for everyone! (Unless you’re one of those people who hates messes…for you we could have random bursts of cheering 👏🏻.)

Look out y’all. She’s back. Prepare the others. 

Now I’m off to save the day and most likely create a scene somewhere. Follow the laughter, look for the cape, and you’ll find me – and probably Eric. He retires in 400+ days. More on that soon.