That's life...

Well, well… almost three and a half months have passed since my last post. Do I have an excuse? No. But my lack of blogging has left me to ponder a couple things.

First, naturally, I think about what has happened in the past few months…

December, or what I remember about December, was good. Of course, the first thing that pops into my head is our Christmas vacation. Ryan and I loaded our Jetta with presents, clothes, and Charlie the dog, and headed west. We stopped first in Eureka Springs, and had enough time to visit some of my favorite places, which was especially fun, because we don’t usually have the time to live like locals while we’re there. So this time, we ate Ark-Mex food off of colorful, mismatched plates and had small talk with the former mayor at Oasis, and we drank draft beers from mason jars at Chelsea’s. And, of course, we had a fantastic time with my family - Mom, Dad, Zac, Grama and Grandpa - and had our own Christmas dinner before heading even further west to Tulsa.

Tulsa trips can sometimes be overwhelming and exhausting, due to the bajillion family members and friends of Ryan. However, this is more of a blessing than anything, and we always thoroughly enjoy making the rounds and seeing as many people as possible before letting loose and drinking way too much champagne and playing games that encourage real life battles of the sexes (“The girls ALWAYS cheat!” “Whatever - you guys just get mad be cause you never WIN!”). And, of course, the star of the Tulsa party is Wyatt, who will turn three in June. Which also seems to remind everyone to ask Ryan and me, “When are you guys going to have a little one?” To which, our answer is always, “Well, we’re trying… It just hasn’t been the right time yet.”

So, December came and went like many Decembers do - cold, lit up like a Christmas tree, and with just enough family drama to keep the normalcy of things.

Onto January… otherwise known as ‘the month I turned 30’. I’m only kidding… I embrace this new chapter in my life. I actually kind of love the thought of being young, but also wise(r) from my experiences, etc. Or whatever.

My favorite part of January was my birthday week, but not just because I was showered with affection and gifts (okay, so maybe that was part of it). It was mostly because I was surrounded by my family and friends at some of my favorite new and old places (Rumours East, No. 308, The Basement). We also were able to get out of the city and head to the Smokey mountains for a few days, which was a blast.

While December and January were great, the bulk of February and March have been very not-so-great, the main reason being that our dogs escaped from our back yard on Valentines Day (which is also their birthdays). While Charlie returned around 4 a.m. the next day, our beloved Maddie didn’t. I don’t have to convince any of you, I’m sure, of the bond that you form with a dog over a five and a half year period, so I won’t go into that. You can imagine the heartbreak. We searched high and low (and I mean HIGH and LOW) for a month before Ryan believes he saw her after she was hit on a busy highway near our house (Due to crazy circumstances, we were never able to confirm that it was actually Maddie, but I’ve gotta trust Ryan’s instincts, no matter how much I don’t want to).

I honestly never knew how hard it would be. And on top of that, we’re just dealing with a couple other tough things right now, which aren’t huge issues, but are things that have kept us from feeling at ease lately (taxes! jobs!). Which brings me to another thing I’ve been pondering lately…

Even though life has not been the best lately, I believe things are - for some crazy reason or another - exactly how they are supposed to be right now. I also believe that if we “chin up, cheer up”, things will start looking up, sooner or later. Tough times (and I know there will be way tougher times than this in my life) are part of life, and as they always say - “You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control your reaction to it.”

So, that’s it… I think life sucks a little right now. But it’s okay. It’ll pass. Plus, there are so many amazing things in my life, too! First and foremost, I have an amazing husband, wonderful family and the best friends. I get to live in my beautiful house in the always fascinating East Nashville. I have my precious Charlie (who, as I mentioned, returned at 4 a.m. - with a broken pelvis) and TB the cat. I have my health and my mind/imagination. And I have the future… oh, the future!

So, here’s to life… and the ups and downs we will encounter. We’ll get through them… together.

xoxo