It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I could say I was busy, but aren’t we all? The truth is, I got pre-occupied with, well, life. But I’m back and I’m going to try and make an effort to post more because I owe that to myself. I think writing something personal every once in awhile is good for me. A little dose of self-love I can indulge in.
Let’s set it up
Between my last post and this one I’ve gotten married to someone I never thought I’d find. A gentle man covered in tattoos, who was able to love me despite my flaws. He’s understood my heartbreaks, and delights in my successes. He keeps me calm, he wakes me up. It’s invaluable to have someone like that in your life.
I’ve found that a great deal of inner-strength forms when there is a support system in place. Sure, you have the capacity to help yourself; to get up and brush it off, hold your chin high and nurse those wounds. But isn’t it nice when there’s a hand there to help you up? I’ve done it both ways and I can tell you, one method is clearly superior to the other.
The deeds
The deed is abstract, but so is life.
My world was absolutely nuts during the month of May. Wedding nuts. Family crisis nuts. Friend crisis nuts. But because my loved ones mean a great deal more to me than this blog post alone, I’m not going to tell you who they are or what exactly they are going/or had gone through.
Wedding Crisis Nuts:
Let’s not. Wedding? Awesome. Wedding planning? Incredibly stupid.
Family Crisis Nuts:
The week before the wedding we were informed that a part of our family was going through something very devastating. It was hard on everyone. Jon and I took a day to allow ourselves to be unequivically sad: for them, for us, for everyone affected. Our wedding was at the end of the week and it felt wrong to celebrate. If weddings were something you could just pick up and move to better date, we would have done it. I remember thinking, “How are we going to do this? How are we going to be able to smile and be happy and expect everyone affected to be happy?” There was one particular day that week I remember sitting down with my fiancee and we discussed the situation. This particular tragedy did not belong to us, it belonged to a few people we loved, and the conclusion we came to was: if we wanted to help those people we were going to need to keep it together, offer to help, understand, and be there for those people…without thinking of ourselves because it wasn’t about us. And after we decided on that course of action things got easier.
Friend Crisis Nuts:
On the day of the wedding my friend was going through a tough time. What a saint she was though: smiling for all of the pictures (sometimes through tears), holding the end of my dress, taking part in every activity, and concealing the problem she was going through from me and everyone around us as best as she could. I adopted the same mantra for her as I did for our family members: keep your shit together, let them feel it, steady them when they need it. And since the wedding day I have been over-the-moon proud of her. The strides she’s taken improve her life and put herself first has truly been a gift to see. I’m so proud of her I can’t stand it. She’s proved to me once again what I’ve known for so many years, she’s one of toughest friends I’ve ever had.
To you my friend, I promise to pay you back. One of these days I’ll smile through all of your pictures and hold your dress. I’ll keep my mouth shut if there is anything bothering me and I’ll tell you how beautiful you look because you deserve to hear that. And when you find that special guy I will shake his hand and whisper in his ear, “Hey, congrats. If you hurt her in any way I will kill you”, followed by my best wedding smile.
25. Keeping it together, so they can fall apart.
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That would be a really good way to end this blog but I actually have more good deeds worth mentioning!
26. Rescue a dog! I just rescued a sweet little black pug. Her name is Wednesday and she snores a lot.
27. Visit a sick kid in the hospital. I visited a sick (adorable, sweet, and sassy) little girl is battling brain cancer LIKE A BOSS.
Resources:
Need a reference for a good non-profit rescue organization? I highly recommend All About Paws. They treat their rescues like family and take care of them so by the time the adoption is final they have had basic grooming, shots, spay/neuter and heartworm meds. AAP is a really great organization that has their shit together. They rescue all breeds of dogs. You can visit their website at: aaprescue.org
Want to root for my sassy, sweet little friend battling brain cancer? You can follow her and her mother’s journey at: prayforbrae.com (WARNING: THIS WEBSITE MIGHT BREAK YOUR COMPUTER DUE TO CUTENESS OVERLOAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. AND DONATE IF YOU CANNOT DENY THE CUTENESS.)
libbylbishop 