Embracing Renewal: The Season of New Beginnings and the Power of Fresh Starts
Then in a couple weeks I will be a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding in Ohio. The whole family will be there to celebrate her new relationship.
Incidentally if you have a doll on the way to my hospital but haven’t shipped it yet please just hold off for about 3 weeks. I have several dolls I’ve been expecting for a month or so that have not gotten into the mail yet as far as I am informed.
And today our youngest son signed up for driver’s ed. When I dream about him he’s still a chubby toddler ~ then I wake up to find he’s grown into a lanky teen. It’s so hard to believe my last baby will be driving soon! I am happy for him to achieve this new skill but not so stoked about teaching him. This is the third and last time I’ll be a driving coach, thank goodness. It’s terrifying!
I guess it makes sense all these things are evolving now. It is a time of abundance and growth. The garden produce is ripening and swelling. The flowers are blooming in profusion. We all tap into it, consciously or not.
And today our youngest son signed up for driver’s ed. When I dream about him he’s still a chubby toddler ~ then I wake up to find he’s grown into a lanky teen. It’s so hard to believe my last baby will be driving soon! I am happy for him to achieve this new skill but not so stoked about teaching him. This is the third and last time I’ll be a driving coach, thank goodness. It’s terrifying!
I guess it makes sense all these things are evolving now. It is a time of abundance and growth. The garden produce is ripening and swelling. The flowers are blooming in profusion. We all tap into it, consciously or not.
I was reminded of this today during my meditation session. I am not having a good week, or I wasn’t anyway. Yesterday my husband announced he is donating our boat to Goodwill. I felt a lot of sadness and anger as well. It seemed like the end of an era, which in fairness, it is.
It’s a 20 year old pontoon boat. We got it 10 years ago. We went back and forth about whether to get a pontoon or not because although they hold more people they are much harder to maneuver. Our dock has a boat lift that is set up for a v-hull boat as well. In the end we decided to go with the pontoon because the price was right and we could take our whole family with room for our parents and nieces and nephews and siblings as well.
We did all those things: family excursions, swimming with the cousins, picnics, fishing trips, magical July 4th celebrations in the middle of the lake where we could watch the fireworks from every surrounding town all at once. One time we even held a “Treasure Island” birthday party on an island for our oldest son and his friends, complete with whole coconut shells to hold tropical drinks with tiny umbrellas. Going out on the boat was one of my most favorite things in the world.
Right from the start the boat had issues. It needed new spark plugs and other parts. Then a muskrat kept chewing through the fuel lines. We would do repairs and move on. But after we got our tiny cabin my husband, the one who knew how to replace the chewed lines and broken parts, lost interest in the boat. He never loved boats as much as I do anyway.
Today the kids and I went down to clean out the boat for donation. I was heartbroken. After we returned home I looked at old photos. Our youngest was only five when we got the boat and the years of photos show the children growing up on the boat. I cried for a while, then started my meditation.
During my meditation an amazing thing happened ~ I completely reframed how I was thinking about the boat. Yes, our time with the boat is ending but how wonderful is it to be wealthy enough to donate a boat?! I started to think about the new family who will get it. Probably they will be young with little children, just like we were when we got it. They will be willing to put in the elbow grease to keep the boat in shape just like we did. Their children will grow up enjoying boating trips like ours did.
And then I thought, now we will have the space in our boat slip for a new boat. We could get a v-hull since we only have one child at home full time. We have more money now so we could afford a higher-end boat. Or maybe we could get a boat we could use both on the river up at the cabin as well as here on the lake. I realized, keeping the old boat in the slip was blocking the energy for a new boat to come in! It really is a new beginning for all of us.
I will be forever grateful for all those lazy, sunny days and nights gliding under the stars, for all that time with our children when they were so young. I am immensely thankful we were able to gift them such shimmering childhood memories. But now we are moving on into the future, and it will also be beautiful.
Want to experience the old, beloved Sweetwater pontoon? Watch the video here.
It’s a 20 year old pontoon boat. We got it 10 years ago. We went back and forth about whether to get a pontoon or not because although they hold more people they are much harder to maneuver. Our dock has a boat lift that is set up for a v-hull boat as well. In the end we decided to go with the pontoon because the price was right and we could take our whole family with room for our parents and nieces and nephews and siblings as well.
We did all those things: family excursions, swimming with the cousins, picnics, fishing trips, magical July 4th celebrations in the middle of the lake where we could watch the fireworks from every surrounding town all at once. One time we even held a “Treasure Island” birthday party on an island for our oldest son and his friends, complete with whole coconut shells to hold tropical drinks with tiny umbrellas. Going out on the boat was one of my most favorite things in the world.
Right from the start the boat had issues. It needed new spark plugs and other parts. Then a muskrat kept chewing through the fuel lines. We would do repairs and move on. But after we got our tiny cabin my husband, the one who knew how to replace the chewed lines and broken parts, lost interest in the boat. He never loved boats as much as I do anyway.
Today the kids and I went down to clean out the boat for donation. I was heartbroken. After we returned home I looked at old photos. Our youngest was only five when we got the boat and the years of photos show the children growing up on the boat. I cried for a while, then started my meditation.
During my meditation an amazing thing happened ~ I completely reframed how I was thinking about the boat. Yes, our time with the boat is ending but how wonderful is it to be wealthy enough to donate a boat?! I started to think about the new family who will get it. Probably they will be young with little children, just like we were when we got it. They will be willing to put in the elbow grease to keep the boat in shape just like we did. Their children will grow up enjoying boating trips like ours did.
And then I thought, now we will have the space in our boat slip for a new boat. We could get a v-hull since we only have one child at home full time. We have more money now so we could afford a higher-end boat. Or maybe we could get a boat we could use both on the river up at the cabin as well as here on the lake. I realized, keeping the old boat in the slip was blocking the energy for a new boat to come in! It really is a new beginning for all of us.
I will be forever grateful for all those lazy, sunny days and nights gliding under the stars, for all that time with our children when they were so young. I am immensely thankful we were able to gift them such shimmering childhood memories. But now we are moving on into the future, and it will also be beautiful.
Want to experience the old, beloved Sweetwater pontoon? Watch the video here.
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