For the first time in like, a while I woke up this morning and I felt good. No anxiety, no looming feeling. I sat with a hot cup of coffee before 8:30 and the baby fell asleep for his morning nap. Mav ate a healthy well rounded breakfast, my husband is working in the neighborhood and has guys working in our house, so my level of happy has far exceeded normal expectations for a regular Thursday morning. So here I sit. Surrounded by yet another new situation that life has presented me with. This past week my sister officially moved in to this crazy life of mine. Lock stock and barrel. We now have added two more dogs to the mix, bringing the grand total of fur babies under one roof to FOUR (send tequila, and quick). Y’all know already how I feel about my sister, she’s like my favorite human, my diary, my mirror, the personification of love, my sister soulmate, she (and my brother) are the closest things on earth that resemble my mom as far as humor, speaking with just one look, and after party gossip seshes go. Allie and Chris are some of the only ones who know all my secrets. My fears. My childhood memories. We truly belong to each other now. And I suppose we always have. 
So it has been one of my life lessons that life doesn’t hold back on anyone. For anyone. Life gets downright hard, and then it gets a little bit harder, and then it knocks you directly on your face and kicks you in the gut when you’re down. If you know what I’m talking about, then I hate that you do. I wish nobody understood how this felt, but I know so many of us do. So, sometimes you need someone to pick you up and hold you for a while. Or, if you need a minute, hopefully you have someone to lay down beside you and cry along with you. Sometimes the people who promised never to hurt us, well they damn well don’t keep their promises. You fake the smile and try to lessen the pain when in reality your heart is breaking inside. It’s very simple, and I’ve learned it doesn’t just apply to one person but to all of us. 
If someone wants you, they will show you they want you. If they love you, they will use actions to deliver that love. If someone is interested in your well being, they will speak with kindness and compassion to help lighten the load. When someone begins to put up boundaries and rules in love, it starts to feel a lot unlike love and more like something else I can’t quite find the word for just yet. 
We are all worthy of love. I’ve said this before, but imagine your mother. Imagine her smile. The way her hugs feel. Wow I’m already crying. Ok. So next, imagine the look on her face when you just know by that exact face that you made her proud. Perhaps you can even hear words your mom has said, or says to you when you need to hear it most. Hopefully by now you’re feeling warm in your chest, and excited in your throat. I hope a smile is playing upon your lips by the thought of your mother. The way she taught you all these emotions simply by LOVING you. The way she taught you love, JUST by loving you. She may not have even known what she was doing, and you surely didn’t when she was, but now here we are, grown, and comparing all love to that of a mother’s love. And friends, THAT is the love we all deserve. 
So today, and this weekend, and for the rest of your days here on earth, when you go out into the world – love your people like this. Take them in, protect them, and love them. Love them like they’ve never been loved. Celebrate each other, be happy for one another. As I get older I realize really how simple it all really is. Just to be kind and find a balance in life where you can create a legacy of love with your peeps. We, are all we have, so we might as well be good to each other. Or even great.