I wanted to share with you my theme for this year. I’ve had some loose ideas mulling around for a while but a concrete idea finally came after watching the beautiful French film Marie’s Story with my mother over Christmas. It’s a lovely story about a young girl who is deaf and blind and responds to the world in a scared and feral way until a nun has a connection with her and decides to take her in. In addition to the beautiful location (weathered French hutches and tomette tiled floors galore!) I was really touched by these two and their story. I was reminded of what can be done when a person invests in another person. I feel like that idea is not as prevalent these days as were so much about climbing ladders and achieving our dreams here in America. Don’t get me wrong, dreams are great and I sure love having mine, but I think using our time and talents to also really invest in others is so key. Key to our own happiness & in our world. And REAL honest change can happen when we believe in, cultivate with love, consistency and determination. We will make mistakes, do it wrong more than once, but persistence, faith and patience are key. A combination of providing fertile ground to grow while also recognizing thistles are all part of it. This chapter in my life with my children the ages they are is ripe for this. And it’s important for me, & for them that I take time to cultivate. To invest in them. I’m still learning what that looks like for us, and I definitely don’t think it means me standing over them at their beckon call at all times. They need to forage and find (I’m huge into teaching children independence) and I need to work, but they also need the backbone and they need the investment. Like all things organic, people are not meant to be forced, but rather given opportunities to grow and even face weeds.

So you might say my theme this year is to “invest”. To go all in. But not only with my kids but my marriage and myself too. I’ve been thinking a lot about what investing in myself would look like and I see a lot of changes I want to make. I’m planning on working on the things that I genuinely want but either scare me or seem like too much work. I want to work past the things that are holding me back so that I can achieve more real success in those areas. So this year I expect struggle – we’re born for it – but I also plan to to thrive. And I plan to help others thrive too.