Bleu Bird Nest: bloom and grow

We have the most amazing lilacs and freesias and jasmine growing in the garden right now and it all smells amazingly beautiful.

I wanted to thank everyone who sent me well wishes and prayed for me and my bell's palsy...I'm happy to report that it is totally gone! I feel very blessed that it only lasted 3 weeks.

Right now I am reading an amazing book called Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley and Harry S. Lodge, M.D. It is about taking better care of ourselves through

exercise and choosing to eat healthy...I know...we've heard it all before.

But this time I'm trying to really listen

and act!

I think that having bell's palsy really woke me up to the reality that

there are things I can be doing

and should be doing

to keep myself healthier. Some things may come

along no matter what we do, and we have no control over them.

But what I do have control over

(i.e. what I feed my body or how much exercise I get)

is something I want to change.

If you are like me, you've always taken care of everyone else first

and yourself last. If you're a mom...I guess that's pretty natural.

But I am learning for the first time to actually take more time for

myself and to not feel guilty about it.

I feel my life shifting in a very good way

now that I'm in my mid-40's.

The little boy has flown out of the nest,

and so I can fill my days with more things

that are about me. Not in a selfish way, but in a way

that keeps me evolving into who I want to be,

the kind of woman I want to be,

the kind of wife I want to be,

living the life I want to live.

I feel myself blooming

and growing.

Here are some great quotes from the book...

"There's a lovely quote from Isak Dinesen that goes 'Women, when they are old enough to have done with the business of being women, and can let loose their strength, may be the most powerful creatures in the world.' You may feel that you're never going to be 'done with the business of being a woman' -- maybe you don't want to be -- but you know what she means and you know that it's true. And nice. Very nice."

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"...many women are feeling more independent, more optimistic, more powerful. Freed from lots of the caregiving, perhaps some girlish posturing and other stuff that Dineson may have had in mind, they are liberated to look at other, possibly larger, issues. Such as themselves. Not out of selfishness, or narcicism, but out of interest."

* * *

"...few women have the luxury of wearing one lifelong robe. They slip into one role after another, juggling and doing the best they can. Few have the time to fall in love with themselves as the Great This or the Important That. And so, after whatever detours life has thrown their way, women are nowhere as likely as men to stew about what's going to happen next...women don't 'survive', they 'prevail'."

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