This is My Forties

Saturday, January 6th - Started the day with a rainy memorial, ended it with a homecooked meal and a game of Wingspan with good friends. Sunday, January 7th - Brennan was in a baking and cooking mood so he whipped up a layered dessert. He even made the pudding from scratch. It was delicious. Monday, January 8th - I thought this bell pepper looked like a nose so... why not. It's Monday. Tuesday, January 9th - I work in the environmental field so I do a lot of site visits for my job. Mostly for erosion and flooding issues. It happened to be right before a big storm so I was able to snap a lot of photos to include in our grant proposal that justify the need for a shoreline project here. The storm eventually came through and flooded the entire area. We also lost power for about 4 hours. We had plenty of camp lights and hobbies to get through those hours. Wednesday, January 10th - The only aftermath of the storm at our house wa

Mon, Jan 1: Tristan and I welcoming 2024 with some drama.  Tue, Jan 2: A short hike at Jug Bay. This poor water snake came out of hibernation while warm Gulf air was keeping everything in the 60's, but that soon disappeared and it froze to death. Unfortunately, we've been seeing this more often as climate change causes extreme variations in temperature.  Wed, Jan 3: Armed with a gifted old cigar box, I started experimenting with my new crafting tool, an engraving pen I got for Christmas. Thu, Jan 4: Charlie's morning meds for his arthritis. He's 14yrs old now and has trouble getting around but he perks up with excitement for his "treats". He spends most of his time sleeping on his giant bed. Fri, Jan 5: Great work event followed by an in-home happy hour and dinner with a close friend. I fucking love my life and the people I share it with ❤️ 

So much has happened since I stopped writing in 2021. I stopped planning and started DOING in earnest. I landed a BIG job as an Executive Director of a local nonprofit. I am allowing myself to see me as an important and influential person, someone with worth and value to offer my community. It started with some terrified feelings and literal sweating my first few weeks. But now I am nearly 2 years in and loving it. I have grown into the position and didn't quit. I have days where I still question my abilities and the Board for hiring me... but, the impostor syndrome is mostly gone. I have had to face uncomfortable truths about myself as a professional, but I did it without a prolonged collapse or otherwise embarrassing childish reaction. I have grown. With 20 years of marriage down, we filed for divorce. After years of twisting myself in knots trying to be happy with only being who I thought he wanted, I realized it wasn't what I wanted... and that mattered . I realized that h