taking deep breaths

its has been a rough end to december through the new year for heather and i. my grandmother passed away. my brother and sister were both diagnosed with new illnesses. heather has had some major wonderful ups and crappy downs. one thing after another, the hits kept coming. our phone calls to one another were full of heavy sighs and heavy talking sessions. if #thisis40, then we might want a refund. the good news is that we are still standing. we are still taking one step after another in 2015 and we are expecting things to look up from here. and the best part...we don't have to go it alone. we have each other and an army of other people walking this road with us. 

still, we've had to recalibrate these past couple of months. we have learned over the last 40 years that it is okay to put things on hold. it is okay to say "no" and emails can indeed wait another day. we understand that even something as important as the blog is to us is not more important than our well being. so, we are good, wise even, to put it in its proper place and take care of ourselves if we need to. we are learning...to take deep breaths, to be kind to ourselves, to give as much grace to ourselves as we would give to others. it's not easy but we are learning.

and here we are. we are still adjusting, still grieving, still trying to wrap our heads around everything but we are taking our time about it. can we just say one thing? whatever you may be going through, whether big or small, you have permission to take care of yourself. there may be very few people who are cheering for you to take care of yourself, but we certainly are. whatever you need...to sit alone at a coffee shop, to read a good book, to skip chores or work for a day to just "be"...whatever that looks like, we are cheering you on to take it. we are hoping for you that you take time to make yourself a priority on occasion and even spoil yourself. we have done some of that these past months and there is nothing like it. 

and we are able to come back and rejoin our blogging world so much better for it. thanks for your patience and for giving us the grace that you may not have even realized you were giving. we appreciate you. xo