When I Gave Myself Permission: A Middle-aged Stay-at-Home Mom’s Self-love Surprise

“As I was walking to the mall, I felt this palpable sense of delight and satisfaction slowly, surprisingly blooming. I was so pleased with myself, so happy at the thought of indulging with a few minutes and a few dollars just for myself. No maximizing of time and effort, no stacking of household errands and must-dos to justify the twenty-minute trip. Just letting loose for a little bit.” #permission #selflove #stayathomemom #motherhood

What’s Left Behind After the College Send-off

“It had been a great blessing to be a college parent: to witness how this beautiful, strong and capable child is growing into her own young adult self, to have the means to give her this opportunity to study and live abroad and to broaden her horizon as well as my own, to entrust this messy and exciting part of our lives to God.”

College Drop-off: A Mom’s Survival Guide

In the days and moments after I got home, I started to allow myself to feel everything, to stop beating myself up for crying at the airport, to accept my new normal as a wife and mother in a half-empty nest, a woman with a third of her heart living halfway across the world.