The beginning….

February 24,2024

When I was a little girl I remember looking at the Sears catalog and dreaming of what my “grown-up” life would look like. I cut out pictures of the dresses I would wear, the bedding I would have, even the pots and pans I would own. I thought about all the little insignificant things that would be my big girl life. I would go to school, do well, graduate, meet the grestest man, get married, have kids, white picket fence yada, yada. THEN…..Life kicked my little ass. Not only did I never really buy those dresses or the bedding, absolutely none of the things happened. No one gave me the playbook for virtually anything that did. They don’t even make the damn Sears catalog anymore. What a huge disappointment. This has been 52 years flying by the seat of my pants, learning everything the hardest way. By traveling the road that I have however, I find myself in exactly the right spot

It seems like only yesterday I was walking down that aisle, getting my diploma. I woke up this morning starting my 52nd trip around the sun old and wondering what on earth I was going to do with the rest of my life. I have spent nearly 30 years focused first on my children, giving everything I possibly could to them and realizing soon I will launch my last little bird into the great big, ugly world. Now what ????

I sat for a long time and tried to remember who I was before I was a mom, man my memory isn’t that long. What did I truly enjoy? Me alone? I truly love to help other people. I’d love to be able to do this every single day. How can I do that? I can do that by sharing all the things I’ve learned, mostly by accident and definately not the easy way, with all of you. Many of my stories are heartbreaking, some will make you laugh till you cry. Hopefully, this will give you all some sort of handbook that I never got on how to navigate this “chew you up and spit you out” world.

I look forward to connecting with all of you and proving the “can’t teach an old dog new tricks” theory false.

Good Food, Great Books and Amazing things this life can give you.

What I’m loving right now….

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About

  • Hey, I’m Mel and I’m finally able to take some time for myself after being a mom for the past 29 years, ( I have loved every single second). I am married to my best friend, Chad,(I met him when I was 14 years old). I have 4 incredible boys from age 29 to 15 and 1 amazing stepson. Yep, that’s 5 boys, 1 husband and 1 male German shorthair named Porter. It’s a crazy male dominant world that I survive in and I think that gives me a unique perspective on life. I did not arrive here on the smooth tarred path, gifted with a silver spoon. Nope, folks I got here the bumpy, rutted, muddy path sort of way and I have all the ugly and spectacular stories that go along with it. I can’t wait to spend some time with you all, sharing stories, life skills, mistakes and lessons. I hope to learn from you all too. Let’s share the greatest life has to give.

The road less traveled (con’t)…

March 1, 2024

After the initial realization that life was not going to be like the Sears catalog at all, I had to quickly adapt and start making some “adult” decisions. What else would you think a girl from a tiny town in the middle of Minnesota would come up with? We should join the United States Navy, of course—why not? I did have all those years as a cheerleader to prepare me. Armed with two of my best friends, we did it; we signed our lives away to the US of A….(our mothers could not believe their ears when we told them.) Six months later, we were dumped from a plane, then a bus, in front of the scariest individuals our 6 eyes had ever seen, in mid July in Florida. (If you’ve not been in the summer, it’s like the surface of the sun.) Immediately, we started thinking, “This sounded a whole lot cooler when we were lying on our couches hungover.” So, to recap, my first choice as a “grown-up” was not to pursue a college degree, not to stay close to family. I was hoping to just cut the umbilical cord with a damned machete. We three girls found ourselves wide eyed, like fish out water and all we could do is stumble around and pray this was just a bad dream. Real quickly we had to put on our big girl panties and take a deep cleansing breath. I even found my calling in entertainment and gave our company the worlds worst rendition of cadence. Nothing left to do but but find a way to laugh. There is no one coming to save you now. After a ton to tears, many dead cockroach positions and the few blessed letters and boxes from home, we survived…..And so part 2 of our journeys would begin. We were all separated and I now truly on my own, and would travel to my battleship (Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore), my new home for the foreseeable future. I spent the remainder of my USN service on the USS Yosemite. Not for one second did I feel like I had a handle on what on earth I was doing. I fumbled around and tried to not get hurt or to hurt anyone else. Thank you to everyone that kept me semi-sane and blessedly alive. I will spare you the details, long story short, we survived each in very different ways. A story I may share one day, but for now let’s suffice it to say it definitely prepared me for what I believe God put me on this planet for…the most important job I would ever do in my life, become a mother.

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