Someone whispers, "She's having a mid-life crisis." I say, "No I am pursuing my dreams, which means accepting the challenges"

So I have been recently reading Willie Nelson's memoir, "Roll me up and smoke me when I die, musings from the road," and it really is helping me keep my perspective on life.  In the introduction, it talks about Nelson's advice on songwriting and he says, "I will never say anything to discourage a songwriter, but if you are a real songwriter, nothing I could say would discourage you, anyhow. If my opinion could change your mind about being a songwriter, then you really weren't a songwriter to begin with and I would have done you a favor by making you look for a different career.  If a real songwriter happened to hear that I didn't like his work, he would say, 'What the hell does Willie Nelson know? Fuck Willie Nelson" (ix, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die, Willie Nelson). So as some of you know, I recently took my Praxis I test, which I fretted about and studied for and yes, to my surprise passed.  All of my cheerleaders knew I would pass it, but I doubted myself, as I always do, mostly I think because we all have a fear of failure.  I knew that if I failed it I could take the test again, but if I had it would have caused doubt within myself.  So passing it of course has just further encouraged me and the path that lies ahead...Needless to say, I am determined.

So Monday, August 26th, I begin working towards my Masters in Education.  I will take this on, while being a wife, a mother, working my full-time job, as well as, starting yet another endeavor.  One of the presents that I received on my birthday was discovering that I had been accepted into a Grad Assistantship position with the English department at Wesley College.  I am super excited about this position, as it means I get to work with professors that I admire and have been mentors to me since my undergrad work. 

I must say it now, loud and clear, I could not do any of this, without the support system of my family.  First I must thank my husband, Kyle who has supported me in every dream that I ever wanted to pursue and is my biggest cheerleader.  Secondly a huge shout out to my mother, who helps take care of my son, Finn during the week, so that I can go to work.  She is an amazing human being and the strongest woman I know, I love you, mom!!! Third (and like Third Man Records, always groovin' along with us), my in-laws, Anita and Rod, for being our sounding board when we need someone to listen or reaffirm our thoughts, for helping with Finn, and for seriously just making music with us or rockin' out to music.  Rachel and Jeremy, for meeting up for cousin play dates at impromptu times and supporting our dreams.  Next let me thank the rest of our extended families both sides, too many of you to mention, you know who you are, whether its sending us happy hump day notes on Facebook, random text messages of encouragement, liking our photos, posts or blogs, we welcome all of your love. Ah, and then there are our friends, again too many to mention, you know who you are,...you may not know how you help us, for some its knowing that you are thinking of us (keeping us in your thoughts and knowing you love us is a good feeling).  Friends seriously cover so much, but I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Special shout out to my friend, Emma who lives on the other side of the world, because oceans and continents have never separated her support for me (and her family's support for me)!  So thank you all!

I just celebrated a birthday this past week, and I must say, that every year just gets better and better.  I am pursuing these dreams, in the words of Joseph Campbell, "following my bliss," even if that means slaying some dragons along the way!  How I love the feeling of defeating those dragons, in the words of Robert Pirsig, "the obstacle is the path." 

Finn playing the Ukulele

My husband and my son gave me my first ukulele for my birthday this year.  Some of you may think this is an odd present, but for those who know my love of music you will understand that it is very special.  I haven't had an opportunity yet, to write a blog post about the ukulele's appearances on stage at Firefly. Some of you may have seen my pic of Amanda Palmer, who is infamous for playing the ukulele, but after our amazing moment in the tent with Amanda Palmer and Sabrina the volunteer who played Gotye....Kyle and I grabbed our beer from the brewery and headed to the main stage to catch LP. As we made our way, the sky opened up and we were caught in the downpour, we didn't care we went with it. LP thought these Firefly fans were awesome for standing and toughing it out...but the treat we got was seeing yet, another ukulele player.  So you see, this ukulele present is something that is magical, because Kyle has always listened to me, that weekend I talked about how the men were the headliners, but the women were the ones who really rocked Firefly this year (and how awesome was the ukulele). So this year, as I take on this new adventure, when I feel overwhelmed or stressed, guess what I am going to be working on, oh yeah, strumming on my ukulele (and maybe teaching Finn his first musical instrument, because he thinks my present is his, but it's okay).

So if you don't see as many blog posts don't fret...I am still here, I am still creatively embracing life and pursuing dreams.  And you may get more recipes from me during this time, as I have many started in drafts, just haven't gotten them posted. You may also just get posts of photos, because I take tons of them, but bare with me as I follow my bliss and slay some dragons. And in the words of Joe Dirt, "Life's a garden, dig it!"