My 4 Words for Motherhood are Relentless, Chaos, Perseverance, & Confusion. But motherhood would never ask you to not be you. It asks you to be a better you. To be brave, to impress, and You are Not Allowed to Pity Me and I’ve Always Got This
In the end, we have to make it Okay somehow to ask for support. Ask for anyone to do anything for us because we ask too much of ourselves.
Let’s Stop Criticizing Our Daughters
When I was pregnant, I was told the very fact that I cared so much about what kind of parent I’d become meant that I’d be a good parent. What takes a potential good parent and steers them to the wrong side of the road? Their own lack of self-compassion and emotional intelligence or awareness….
What I Feel Like Turning 58 years-old
More than any year prior, I felt into my word of the year as honestly as I could, and it commanded my New Year choices of change. Leapy was the word I chose to guide me this year. My own personal leap year has encompassed so many life changes that make this birthday sweeter in…
These Last Languorous Days of Summer
I love these last languorous days of Summer especially when the weather breaks as it’s done this week. From stifling to refreshing, we crammed a quick beach trip in. Luxuriously sleeping until 9am. Not Mark but me and the kids. The cicadas are winding their cacophony down giving over to the subtle whispers of the…
There’s No Place Like Home After Vacation
I have a love/hate relationship with vacations. While my husband has fabulous memories of singing Kumbaya around beach campfires with numerous cousins, I have one memory of my family camping and there was yelling involved. My childhood vacations meant sleeping on uncomfortable beds at relative’s houses so the parents could get a break from parenting….
My Quiet Revolution of Care: Reshaping Humanity from My Home
As a woman, there are many unspoken jobs that I perform. I manage our family life’s seasonal rhythms and set the stage, tone, and table for celebrations and vacations. I am the listener, teacher, and translator as each family member needs a differential learning approach. I need to understand how to communicate with each in…
Holding Space for My Future Decisions in My Busy Now
There are numerous happenings occurring in my world now. My 5th grader is finishing up public “grade school” and will be attending a new private school next year. We are doing all the year ending ceremonies plus there are many Mommy to-dos with this academic move. We need new school costumes, a new computer, and…
Onward into the New Year
If you are new to Shalavee, welcome to this blog and my middle child that is Shalavee.com. This began 12 years ago when I wanted to become a better writer. I’d say it served its purpose well. Blogs are dinosaurs at this point, but I still am hoping for their resurgence. There has been shifting…
I’m a Grilled Cheese Coach and a Re-potter of Plants
I embody many me’s on any given day. The person I chose to act on behalf of yesterday isn’t all the same as the one I will be working for today. Yesterday I was the grilled cheese coach and photographer for preteen girls who swear they don’t want to be teens. I was the re-potter…
My Return to Ireland
It was 1999 and we were in love. He said, yeah, my treat from my tax return, lets got to Kim’s wedding in Oxford, England and then travel for a week in Ireland. I said OK. And off we went for a whirlwind 10-day UK trip during which I knew I could probably marry him….
