Mom, Momma, Mother, Mum

Good afternoon you sweet-senders-of-love!

I trust you have been well and that while you've been sending love out to others, you have also been receiving lots of loves too!

Now, onto the subject of the day:

1) My parents are at that retirement-age, and have decided that they like spending about a month out of the year down in Mexico when it's cold up here in Canada. They golf, they walk the beach, they have lots of dinner parties with people that have become close friends and they decompress. They left this week.

2) I'm very close with my mum, and especially with the passing of my brother many years ago, we stay in very close contact. In fact, on my way to work every morning, I use that lovely little Bluetooth-y thing in my car and give her call. It's hard with them being in Ontario, and me here in Alberta, but we do our best.

1 + 2 = me having a hard time cuz I can't call my mum every morning and debrief life with her!! :(

Especially since getting married, I value my mum more and more as she supports me through the trials and tribulations of committed-long-term-relationship stuff. And my mum does not beat around the bush! It's straight to the point whether I want to hear it or not, and frankly, even though it's hard to hear sometimes, I really appreciate it.

• She'll kill me for posting that first pic, but you know what, it's already on facebook, so what're ya gonna do?! haha 
• The second is from my cousin's wedding nearly a decade ago. 
• The third is when my mum and I went and got tattoo's together!! (The artist, once finished, said, 'There you go, now you're a bad-ass mom!') 
• The last pic is from my wedding nearly two years ago. One of my favorite memories was sitting with mum and talking in the bedroom before the madness and partying began. 

I've been through the gamut with my mum and am blessed to have her in my life and to consider her my dearest supporter, teacher, confidant and guide.
(I adamantly did not use the word friend, as while I'm close to my mum the way I am with my closest friends, she is of a different status altogether in my life, and I need her there. I have lots of friends, I only have one mum.)


I realize that all of us have different kinds of relationships with our mothers, or people who play the role of mother in our lives. But, I hope and pray that whomever you consider 'mom', you love and appreciate her and the role she plays in your life.

I also know that some of you may have been hurt by your moms through her words or actions. For you, I'm sorry. I hope you are supported, loved and adored by other people in your life so that there is no hole to fill.

We all have a different story.
We all have a mom.
Let's send them some love.

hugs
sarah d.

dear old friends

Hey team, 

I trust everyone is well and sending their happy vibes out into the universe! ;)

This week will be a more personal post.

I spent some time in one of the greatest cities in the world, Hamilton, ON, and loved living there. One of the biggest reasons I loved it there so much was the people. I met and spent time with people that cared about community, love, growing, and supporting each other. Some of those people were whole families, some were work friends, and others were just individuals that had the biggest hearts. 

I learned recently that one of my dear friends from Hamilton is facing a challenging battle right now. His name is Eric, and he was just diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Eric was one of the very first people I met when I arrived in Hamilton. It was a few days later when we found ourselves playing music together in a church band that I realized this guy was really fantastic. Afterwards, as happens, a group of us went out for a bite and I really enjoyed getting to know this man I would shortly thereafter think of as my brother. In time I was adopted by his family - his little sister is now my little sister, I've played music with one of his older brothers, I've had many wonderful conversations with his oldest brother, and I adore and respect his parents for who they are and how they've supported their children, their friends, and even me. 

When I heard the news, I was thrown. One of my first sentences was, 'Where did THAT come from?!' To learn that there isn't even a family history of it really frustrated me. I've supported people through their battles with cancer before, but for some reason, this time it finally hit me - cancer has no prejudice. None.  

That's Eric, in the light blue t-shirt. (And that's another friend Dan, love that guy!) We were having a Boccee Ball tournament and got to goofing around. These two weirdos thought it would be fun to see if they could do a flying horizontal kick at each other's chests. I managed to capture it with my camera. We were falling all over the place with laughter the whole afternoon at silliness, and this moment was no exception. 

That's my friend. 
He's a husband, a brother, a son, a friend, and a believer in all things good. 

I know you have a friend that has gotten terrible news. And if not a friend, a family member, a co-worker, or someone you grew up with... someone you care about. Someone who has a family that you think about and wonder how they're holding up. 

Will you please join me in sending some love to Eric and his family?

And let's send some love to all of your friends/family/co-workers/old friends who have received terrible news too. 

May they be blessed. 

Held. 

Cared for. 

Laughed with. 

Encouraged. 

Listened to. 

Fed. 

Given peace. 

Healed. 

May they be loved. 

hugs

sarah d.

thinkthinkthinkbadthoughtsthink

Good evening friends, 

Two things to cover in this blog, and they conveniently coincide.

Number 1: My resolutions. 

I'm the kind of person who loves to learn and grow all of the time. And so, I look fondly on new years resolutions as an opportunity to refocus my energy and get specific again about areas I'd like to see growth. Over the years, I've found it increasingly important to create reasonable and measurable goals. So, here they are, and of course, there is always room for additions:

Move for 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Eat in a way that my body and mind will be healthiest.

"Act the way I want to feel." (Thanks to Gretchen Rubin for that one!)

Blog once a week.
Get someone to smile every day. (Bonus points for laughter!)

Do something musical once a week. (Writing, practicing, researching artists, etc.)

Listen better. Listen more. (I don't ALWAYS have to add something.)

Nearly two weeks into January, and I'm going strong. Another thing I've learned over time is that with most things, when I drop the ball and make a mistake, I don't simply give up and walk away. I start again, sometimes immediately, sometimes the next morning, but I keep trying. And so onward and upward I go!

Number 2: Negative thoughts.

All that said, I still struggle with negative thoughts.. I have an 'editor' - that little crappy voice in my head who tells me I can't, I won't, I'll fail, there's no way I'll ever... Do you have an 'editor'? Through years of practice, I've learned to acknowledge and silence mine with relative ease. (However, there are times when I'm extremely thankful for a patient husband who helps me with my sometimes skewed perspective.) 

photo cred: Olivia Napoli

Bad thoughts can be like the birds in this image, and peck away at us until we have only struggle and frustration left. There's pages and pages more that can be said about what life looks like for people drowning with negative thoughts... but I think we can all empathize and agree that it's awful and tiring. 

This week, while I am intent on growing and being more positive, I will send my positivity outwards. I will focus on breathing in the dark, ugly, hard stuff that people are facing every day; and I will breathe out the light, positive, beautiful breath that we all need to be joyful. 

Will you join me in simply loving those that are being berated with hard and bad thoughts? We could all use a little help from time to time. 

hugs

sarah d. 

xo

where did the time go...?

Hello dear ones,

I have no concrete reason as to why I've been away from 'love simply.' Time just got away from me I guess, and other things took priority. In any case, I am going to make a concerted effort to make 'love simply.' a priority this year, as it helps me gain some needed perspective in the madness of daily life. 

Being that the new year is upon us, I'm drumming up some resolutions with the help of friends, a book I'm reading, and my heart. I'll post them once I've flushed them out a bit. 

Are you going to be working on anything in particular this year?

Until then, I feel compelled to send some love somewhere... Perhaps to everyone headed back to work after holidays. To be completely honest, I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. It's been a nice break, and I've been reminded of how much I'd like to work for myself. 

Let's send some joy and happiness to everyone going back to work after a break. 

May you feel excitement about seeing work-friends again.
May you be thankful for the structure that is returning to your daily life.
May you be blessed with many more opportunities to bring love and laughter into someone else's life.

Until we meet again,

sarah d.
xo.

brides

Hello beautiful friends!

Sorry for the wee hiatus. Life has been more hectic than I ever really imagined it could be. 

One of my best friends is getting married next weekend and my cousin is getting married the weekend after that. It turns out that I've got 'bride-brain' remembering my wedding. It was such a happy time full of friends and family, and a little bit of stress! ;)

All brides handle the time prior to their wedding differently. I had a couple 'bride' moments, but they were small in comparison to some - at least this was the reassurance used to make me feel better by my good friends! 

In light of supporting my friend and family through this time, and remembering other friends in preparation for their weddings, I thought it would be kind of us to send them some happy thoughts. They are facing an exciting yet challenging time. 

I fear that due to shows like 'Say Yes to the Dress' and 'Four Weddings', the marriage part of the wedding day has lessened in importance. I was blessed to have kind and compassionate people around me who kept reminding me that my wedding was only one day. One day that signified the beginning of the rest of my life with my partner. One day. Yes, it's an important day, but it's one day. And then there's the rest of life. 

With statistics like the following, there is no question that brides (and grooms) need take this day and the rest of their days together seriously.

"What are the chances of a Candian couple getting a divorce?"

The riskiest year is the fourth year of marriage. In the first year of marriage, there are less than one divorce for every 1,000 marriages. After one year of marriage, there are 5.1 divorces for every 1,000 marriages in Canada. After two years of marriage, there are 17 divorces for every 1,000 marriages in Canada. After three years, there are 23.6 divorces for every 1,000 Canadian marriages. After four years, there are 25.5 divorces for every 1,000 Canadian marriages. After that, the chances of divorce decline slowly for each subsequent year of marriage.

http://www.ottawadivorce.com/statistics.htm

photo cred http://photo.digitalartstudio.ca/

I hope and pray that brides who are looking towards their big day remember the brilliance that is to come the next day, and the next day, and the next. I hope that the beautiful brides not only prepare for their special day, but their lives with their new partners. I hope that families and friends can help brides remember that while they are stunning in their wedding gown, they are breathtaking standing next to their partner, supporting them while they support her, every single day. 

I love you my brides and I can't wait to see you on your special days! And I definitely can't wait to figure out life with you as we move forward as WIVES!! :D

love and hugs

sarah d. 

serve servers serving

Hey friends!

Kody and I absolutely love Groupon! It's afforded us many an opportunity to eat out when we otherwise wouldn't have had the chance. 

On a recent 'date night' for dinner and a movie (thanks Groupon!), we talked about how awesome our serving staff were. From the manager to the server to the hostess, everyone was kind and smiling, and seemed to be having a fantastic day. Which meant that we had a fantastic experience!!! 

So Kody suggested I write a little blog about sending happy thoughts to our serving staff. I admit it, I've had my moments with servers and wait-staff and have been a pretty lame customer. However, just like there is always someone better, there's always someone worse.. and man oh man, I hate to think of the way that some of these hard-working servers get treated sometimes. 

photo cred flickr.com

So if you're out and about, or if you're hanging out at home today, send some happy vibes out to the people that try to make our date-nights/coffee dates/lunch meetings a pleasant experience. 

And better yet, if you're being served somewhere this week, make it your goal to put a smile on the face of your server! It's such a simple little task, and I think if we all made a point to do that for someone every day, we'd all be smiling and laughing a lot more!

hugs and loves

sarah d. 

the wee-est of the wee ones

Hello dear friends!

I have been walking alongside an old friend of mine who is going through a trying time. She has just been blessed with her first wee one, and the darling arrived in a hurry! So this new family has been spending their time at the hospital with hopes that soon they will finally be able to welcome their newest member HOME. 

While thinking on and praying for her and her family, it struck me that there is a lot of need in these places. 

There are pooped nurses. 

There are exhausted parents. 

There are scared siblings. 

There are so many questions. 

They need our happy thoughts and prayers and smiles and loves!

My friend recently wrote on her Facebook status: Today God gave me the blessings of speaking life to parents in the ward and laying hands on a 1lb 6oz baby and her parents and praying with them. This ward is  a place of hope. Little lives are saved daily. We got to love our nurses. It was a beautiful day. God is so good. 

I'm so happy to see the hope and faith that my friend has. And I'm certain that there are many more people in the NICU's around the world feeling this way. But I also know that there are doubts and fears, tiredness and frustration. So I'm excited about supporting them with some good vibes and I hope you are too!

hugs and loves to you and all the wee ones!

sarah d.