Big Family Dinners

Most holidays everyone gets crazy about creating large family dinners. Sometimes one person does all the cooking, sometimes other members bring a piece, sometimes the pieces are brought and prepared together, and sometimes the members eat out.
I enjoyed the big family dinners for the holidays but the stress of making sure the dinner was good and there was enough to feed everyone was not fun. For the last few years, Thanksgiving has been the one holiday I have been blessed to not have to cook. Our family has started a new tradition for Thanksgiving which gives my mother-n-law, sister-n-law, and myself the ability to enjoy the time with family without the stress of preparing the food.
With every holiday the key ingredient is family and the point is to enjoy that ingredient. So, no matter what your traditions are don't forget the point of the get-togethers, the main ingredient, "FAMILY" is the reason.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Feeling thankful

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by, it is only a week until Thanksgiving and four weeks until Christmas. I haven't even started my shopping for gifts. I can't say I am not a procrastinator at times but when it comes to shopping I am a big procrastinator for sure. This year has been a true whirlwind. There have been good things and sad things but all in all, it has been a good year. I stepped outside my comfort zone and ran into the sky and joined the ranks of other women who became paramotor pilots. I have met some really amazing people whom I am honored to call friends and family. I spent more time with my family than I have in many years. I spent a lot of time traveling to FL, a couple of those trips were for sad circumstances but I got to spend time with family members I had not seen in a very long time. Looking back it seems like I crammed so much into one year but it felt good. It actually reminded me how much I don't like staying still. The downside to it is that life doesn't always allow for that amount of activity or even a fraction of the activity I got this year. I have a lot to be thankful for and not just for the events of this year.

 

 

It's Friday y'all

Happy Friday everyone!
I  have been here in Ridgeland, SC for a couple days. It is our second trip down here in three months. It has been a really busy summer off and on. We started out our summer coming to Ridgeland to learn how to be paramotor pilots but we came away with so much more than just learning how to paramotor. On our first trip down here I only got in 2 flights and 2 taxi practices. I learned to kite a wing and collected some awesome new family members, who I will cherish forever. I also became a part of a much larger family of pilots.
This time around I was able to get a couple more towing sessions in and this morning I got my third flight in. Since I am still a baby pilot I was being instructed so I was listening very closely to what I was being told to do I wasn't realizing I was doing things right. After I was up in the air I hear my instructor say what an awesome third take off I had just preformed but since I am piloting myself I could see what I had done so I smiled to myself at his words of encouragement and took in the scene unfolding in front of me. The wide-open sky in all its glory. I was one with the wind and using my very own wings like a bird.
To say it is surreal is such an understatement. It is a rush like I have never felt before doing this and it is a feeling I want to experience more. I followed the pattern and did a flyover (with my instructor's permission, of course) and flew the pattern again. I was under my own power and making my flight count. I took in the sights this time and looked around at the world below me as I passed by above it. I got a little too in a hurry to land and had to make a couple attempts to land before I actually came in and landed.
As they say in flying, takeoffs are optional, landings are required.
Happy Friday y'all, I hope your Friday is your kind of great as mine is for me!!! Keep your heads up and your hearts soring, may your feet never touch the ground.

Appreciating life's lessons...

It is so very true people come and go from our lives through the years. There are those who make a big impact on our lives and those who only make a small one. The question is do you know what kind of impact you make on others life.
I have met a lot of people, some have passed through and others have stayed. I treasure all who have come and gone as well as those who have stayed around. Some taught me what I needed to learn from them and moved on to others who needed those lessons too. Those who have stayed are still teaching me the things I need to learn.
I have often wondered what kind of impact I make on those who come into my life while they are a part of my life. I do try to make a positive impact but since we are always our own worst critics I am sometimes doubtful. I make sure no matter how bad my day is going to smile at those who pass me or speak if they speak to me. Kindness is sometimes the only way you impact someone's life.
To those who are still apart of my life, I want you to know how much I appreciate your presence in my life. It isn't always easy to remember to tell those in our lives how much they mean to us but it is always the right thing to do. Take a moment and make sure you tell them because as the saying goes, yesterday is the past, tomorrow isn't promised, but today is a gift and it is the only thing we are guaranteed. Always be kind, it is healthy for you and for those around you.

Making real changes...

I spent most of the day yesterday working on things for my business and my books. I also watched a youtube interview of a friend who I consider part of my family now. I realized I had not turned the tv on at all. Normally I have the tv on for background noise but yesterday I was so focused on other things going on around the house I didn't even miss the noise from the tv. Even though it was only one day I now know I can focus without the need for the background noise.
I also did my first day of my 30-day health change choice. I am eating healthier and more frequently rather than just three times a day. I am also drinking more water and because of the water drinking, I have learned some of my headaches are happening because I haven't had enough water. I do still have caffeine because I love my tea. I also still indulge in sweets. The one thing I have figured out, I can still be healthy and still enjoy some of my guilty pleasures.
I am also taking the time I need for me when I need it and not apologizing for taking it. For my own mental health I have to take the time. I know what makes me happy so I take the time and do it. What I choose for the time I'm taking can vary. It is an awesome feeling to just let go of the everyday stress and let my mind go blank for a little while.
I am taking toddler steps, cause baby steps are just too small, and I am determined to make these changes stick. I just have to keep my mental state going in the right direction so these healthy changes permanent.
Even if you choose to change only one thing, make that change and stick to it. Be a happier and healthier you. When I say healthier I am not just referring to your physical health.

Seeing the silver lining...

As most of you know it has been a rough couple of years for me. I have shared my journey thus far, of losing the eyesight in my left eye. You have traveled with me on the ups, downs, twists, and turns this roller coaster has taken. The multiples of injections I endured, the laser procedures (which left permanent scars, only I can see), the cataract surgery and then glaucoma (which I still have flare-ups on occasions). I have always accepted what was and what would come. For the most part, I have tried to stay positive and see the silver lining. I have stopped the injections as I had previously said I was going to do because they were inherently causing more damage than they were actually helping. My life has changed in the manner of what I am physically able to do has become limited. Now when I say physically able I do not mean my vision prevents me from lifting, walking, talking, etc...I simply mean things I took for granted I miss, driving at night, being able to see in the dark, you know the simple things. However, I am grateful for the fact I can still see using glasses. I am still able to (with limitations, of course) be creative, write, read, watch movies, basically still live my life.
The one thing I wanted to do was get my pilots license so I could share in the world of flight with my husband. I truly thought I would only get to share in that world as a passenger, but he found a way for me to share in a different way and still be part of the world of flight. I have shared some videos and pictures as I took my want for flight and made it a reality. I did not allow my lack of sight to stop me from taking full advantage of learning how to have my own wings. Does my lack of sight make it more dangerous, no, because I know to follow what my body is telling me and to listen to my inner voice and be mindful of making the choice to stay on the ground and wish I was in the sky then to take a risk and be in the sky wishing I had stayed on the ground.
Everyone has a bucket list, even if they don't call it a bucket list, of things they want to do or accomplish in this one life we are given. With my story, I am showing you, even if you have something which limits your abilities don't give up, make it happen. There are always ways to make what you want to happen even if you don't see it, there is someone else out there doing it a different way which just may be the way you need it. If something is worth wanting and having, then it is worth the fight and the search to make it happen. Do what is going to make you happen in this life and help you live your life and not just let it pass you by as you watch.
Take that bull by the horns! Find the silver lining! Don't be the wall flower, be the rain which makes it grow!