First things first… HAPPY NEW YEAR, wishing you all a beautiful, peaceful, and most importantly, gentle year ahead.

The more I journey through life, the more I understand the importance of being kind to ourselves, in all that we do.  In previous years, I’ve set goals at the beginning of the year, written down resolutions, and encouraged myself to be the best I could be, and that worked at times, but in this particular time in my life when things seem a little chaotic, and out of balance for many different reasons, I’ve come to understand that life is not a “one size fits all” kind of deal, and that by taking each day at a time, taking time for myself, and respecting the boundaries I set, my time, and my space, is the best way to live my joy filled life… right now.

This actually feels pretty good!!!

Being in touch with our souls, our emotions, and our needs in each present moment, is AWESOME!

2023 was an interesting year, with many highs, and lows for our family, but like always, we faced them with courage, and LOTS of humor, because thankfully, God has gifted us with the ability to laugh at ourselves, sometimes at each other in a playful way, and by doing so, we walk through life gracefully - well, sometimes, not so gracefully, but we try anyways! 😉

The highlight of our year was my mom’s visit to Chicago after more than a decade of not being able to visit. She stayed for almost three months, we visited every place we could think of, ate all the foods she wanted, and spent a lot of family time together, and she made many new friends.  It was a trip to be treasured and remembered forever.

The last couple of months have been intense work related, it’s a beautiful time of the year, but also very busy. I’m grateful to have kept the energy, joy, and enthusiasm every day, and be able to complete every task I had to do.

Just before the year ended, a few days before Christmas Eve to be exact, my mom suffered a bad fall at her home, resulting in quite a few injuries, including a broken hip! Receiving that phone call from my brother at the ER with my mom was very difficult! It has been over two weeks since her accident, and she still has a long road ahead, it has not been easy, but my mom’s attitude towards life and determination is beyond admirable!!!

I’ve been dealing with a few health issues myself, many doctor’s appointments, including a trip to Immediate Care on New Year’s Eve, and after days of being on different meds, some rest, and lots of TLC, I’m starting to feel a little better, although not quite there. I think my body had accumulated so much stress in the past few months, that eventually it gave out! The accumulated stress had to come out somehow, somewhere, and for me it was my back, and all the other stuff I’m dealing with at the moment. I’m feeling better, healing slowly, and surely, and taking time to rest when I need to. No “must” do lists -not at home anyways- rest, and coffee breaks every opportunity I have.

Our 21 year old baby (yes, she’s our baby! 🥰), is going back to College on Saturday to finish her Senior year!!! It sounds cliche, but honestly, I don’t know where time has gone, you blink and time goes by… talk about a slipping through my fingers moment. She’s been home for a couple of weeks, and although it hasn’t been the “ideal” winter break, or the winter break we had planned due to all the stuff we’ve gone through, we still have made the best of that time together, and we’ve had many opportunities to sit on the couch together to watch movies, cook together, eat at the kitchen table together, and my favorite part has been watching her and her big sister spend time together, I wish I could share every moment of their relationship with the world, because it’s so unique, so amazing, and so pure, that it makes my heart jump for joy every single time!!!

With that being said, I think I’ve covered enough for Story Time with Maria now. 😂

I’ve missed writing, sharing, and being present here, but I’ve had to be present for myself lately a lot more, and that feels awesome too.

I leave you now with one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time.  A reminder to honor ourselves with the way we care for ourselves. One of the greatest and free gifts we’ve been given.

“Self-care is never a selfish act - it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.” ~Parker Palmer