How well do you really know your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mom, dad, nephews, nieces, friends, husband & or wife? This year really challenged what my response would have been to this question. It was a rough ride with lots of big waves. I feel like my husband and I have grown & learned so much about life in general but also about ourselves. 

Unfortunately, the answer now is, I don't know them well at all. I mean I thought I did. But really not any more than at a surface level & it's something that really honestly bothers me to my very CORE! I have learned a very important thing about myself, I live to serve, inspire, encourage and I love to love. I am the type of person that if you come over to my house I will want to feed you a meal, make you coffee, talk to you, love on you. I want you to walk through that front door blessed and leave feeling even more blessed. I want you to want to come back to visit, not just because you have to. I want you to feel this is a safe place, no judgement, just love, sometimes tough love but love no doubt.  

I married into a gigantic family, my husband is one of 10. With so many people its very hard to keep up with everything & we also live a good distance away from most of them. But those 2 things are both excuses to stay distant but thats not an option for me. I have started something new over the last several months. I make an effort to reach out to every single person on my husbands side of the family and mine as well to check in. The intent in this is not to have anyone pour their soul into a text message, however if they did, I would be 100% ok with that. I would love to hear anything beyond the so called "elevator speech". The true intent of the monthly reach outs really is, to open a door for sharing. So that if something was really impacting one of them, they might feel comfortable enough to share with me. 

I am not saying I know everything about life. Because gosh that would be a false statement. But what I can do is be a shoulder to lean on or cry on, a warm heart to share with, listen, offer advice from personal experiences, and also share what I have learned along my short lived road to age 35. I want to provide a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing real life stories with one another. I hope this inspires you to do the same.

What you will see below is a little exercise that I put together for you to try out with your family members. Pick someone that you want to connect with on a deeper level but aren't sure where to start. The second question on the list speaks to your next connection with whomever it is you sit down with first. Make that meal & sit down and eat it together. No cell phones, tv and just talk. Talk about real life. If you want further questions for that meet up, please send in a contact form and I will get you some that can help you. 

If this is too much of a jump for you, maybe start out with the monthly check in's and then lead into the sit down exercise. 

This is SUPER important work to begin. We do not live in a world of fairy's and rainbows & life gets hard, really hard but together we can get through anything. Don't wait until 2019, start NOW!

If only you, child, could see inside my heart, only then you might be able to realize how much I love you. You every inch of you is loved more than you will ever understand. You see, every inch of you makes up who I am as your mommy. Every ounce of me works daily, 24/7 around the clock to be my best for you. 

You watch me day in & day out... Washing laundry, doing dishes, cooking, baking, cleaning, grocery shopping, reading books, playing, bathing you, driving you to school/sports/play dates, helping with homework, talking about how your day was {good or bad}, going to work. You see me at my best & at my worst.

I am your nurse, your chef, your tutor,  your counselor, your coach,  your cheerleader and I am your home, your safe place. 

There is nothing in this world that I wouldn't do for you and that is no understatement. The love you are given on a daily basis is the unconditional kind. You will see me mad, upset, frustrated, overwhelmed, disappointed and you might think that I don't love you. But gosh if you only knew that is love in its hardest form. The love that teaches lessons, respect, common sense, compassion, integrity, confidence. It builds character and helps you to develops morals for your adult life. 

This is the part of loving you that keeps us up at night, the part that you don't see. The part of being a mommy that we beat ourselves up over. Asking ourselves questions like:

-did I handle that right? 
-was I too hard on him or her? 
-should I have been hard on him or her? 
-did I say the right thing? 
-I should've said this, this and this
-how will I handle this? 
-how should I approach this? 

Then there are the nights when we google everything under the sun. Things like bug bites, rashes, attitudes, timeouts, toddler tantrums, birthday decor/ideas, kid rooms, kid activities, sleep tantrums, you name it, it's been googled.

Every night I come into each of your rooms while your sound asleep and check on you to make sure your alright. My soul gets butterflies, tingles and shines. The feeling of pure joy that that little human being is a piece of you, you brought that little child into this world. You felt the worst pain of your life for that itty bitty being, yes you did that. Your an amazing, strong woman. Its now become your top priority to mold, and shape them into kind, respectful, fearless human beings that you will be forever be proud of no matter what. 

The most unique thing about being your mother is that you are also teaching me. Without even knowing what your doing you are molding me into the mother that I have become. The bond we share is like none other. We share tears, laughter, hugs, sadness, happiness, thoughtfulness. I will forever be grateful to you of allowing me to be the best I can to you & always loving me back. 

If only you knew that you, my child are my greatest adventure.

Photos all provided by kelly Q puckett photography
www.kellyqpuckettphotography.com