If we were having coffee, I’d greet you with a big hug and hand you a jar of homemade Mulberry Jam and ask how you’re doing. How you’re really doing. And I’d listen and listen and maybe wonder what you weren’t telling me and why. I may even call you out on it if I felt like I could, though I may ease into the realness if you seemed a bit tender.
I might tell you that life is good, these days. Exhausting, but good. Depending on when we saw each other last, I might tell you that I got married in September and that DIYing a wedding is no joke and that while it feels a bit different to be married, it’s not incredibly different than the commitment we’ve shared for the past nine years and you may or may not understand this, because some people just don’t.
If we were having coffee, I’d surely mention my two sweet girls. I might tell you that I worry for my oldest who is juggling college and a job and a boyfriend and learning how to be a grown up. I might even say that I worry for her more than I regularly express and that I am more proud of her than I could ever put into words.
Then, I’d talk about the sleepless nights, the tantrums, the endless teething (second year molars are a bitch), the laughter and challenges and hilarity that come with raising a two year old.
And surely you’d express your surprise at the age difference of my two lovelies, because everyone does, whether they mean to or not because 18 years is a big spread.
And I’d ask how your family is and nod my head in agreement to all of your tales of love and chaos and everything in between.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you there’s at least one bull snake trying to hibernate in the barn, and that I worry she won’t be warm enough during the coldest months, but trust she knows what she’s doing. I’d also tell you that we lost a chicken this week (old age, I think…no trauma, just dead) and that it always makes me sad to lose one of our hens.
Then, I’d tell you that the dogs woke us up well before dawn on Thursday with their unusual barks and growls…so we went outside with headlamps and flashlights and found a coyote in an offshoot of the acequia…though his cute fluffy butt and sweet little ears belied his intentions of catching a goat or chicken or turkey for dinner (er…breakfast?).
They’re good dogs, even if they did drag us out of bed to show us their trap.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I really need to find a creative outlet, but am struggling to find a way to spend time practicing self-care these days.
I might tell you I need to read more and spend less time online, but I fall asleep after two pages in a book every night no matter how good the book might be. I’d ask what you’ve been reading lately and what it’s about? I might even say that it sounds like a great book and that I’ll add it to my list…but what I wouldn’t tell you is that my list is so long, I might read it when I’m 96 (especially since I can only get through two pages a night)!
If we were having coffee, I might tell you about how incredibly exhausted I’ve been for weeks now. How I’m going to bed at 8:00 and struggling to wake up each morning at my normal 5:00. That my head aches are fierce and my back aches are a pain (literally and figuratively) and maybe I should drink some water, but the coffee is just so good.
I might mention that the garlic still hasn’t gone in the ground and that, with all the rain we got Thursday and Friday, it might not go in the ground this weekend either. Then, I’d tell you I also want to throw down some echinacea seed and some cover crops to help amend the soil in that massive garden of ours and that the snow may fly before any of it gets done, but I’m hopeful it won’t because we’re just not ready yet (on so many levels) but it’s all part of this journey we’re on.
So now, do tell, how are you today, my Friend? How is work and life and all things good and hard and in between in your neck of the woods. Let’s sit a while and enjoy a cuppa while we catch up on how things are really going…
xoxo,
M
Trying something new today and linking up to Part-Time Monster’s Weekend Coffee Share.
Hi! I loved this, thank you for sharing. It was fun to have coffee with you.
If I had actually been with you, I would have encouraged you to not sweat the coffee vs. water thing. My grandmother drinks enough coffee to kill a horse, and I’ve never seen her drink water, and she’s the healthiest person I know. I think the blacker you can get it, the better, though!
🙂
Brianna recently posted…Christmas is Coming Early! (Giveaway!)
Thanks for joining me! And hey, you’ve gotta love he elders, right? They always tell tales of the odd things they eat and drink and attribute their longevity to them! Hey, I’ll take it 😉 Hope you’re having a great week!
Hi! Thanks for visiting my site for #WeekendCoffeeShare. Nice to *meet* you.
Congrats on your wedding!
As for books, I recently read Persepolis and Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi. Really interesting and good books (graphic novels). The latest I read was light, but fun — The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain.
Hope to see you next week!
Tara recently posted…#WeekendCoffeeShare: 60 More Sheeps
Thanks for popping over and thank you for the kind words! Your book recommendations sound fun! I tell you, I *will add them to my list 🙂 Hope you have a lovely week!
As I’m enjoying my coffee and blogs this morning, I’m rationalizing my slow start this morning with the time change and the morning rain–even though the animals know nothing of the time change and the rain doesn’t stop the pigs from wanting breakfast.
We had our last farmers market of the year yesterday, so no more getting up at 4:30 on Saturdays for a while. Now I’m breaking out my long list of things I’ve been putting off until November.
OK, I’ve enjoying sharing coffee with you for a few minutes this morning, but I really do need to get out there and look after the animals. It’s quite possible that we had some new kids born last night. 🙂
Good morning, Bill! Thanks for sharing coffee with me! I think your slow start is absolutely valid! 🙂 I’m so glad to hear that your 4:30 wake up time is over for a bit…I try for 5:00 each day and even that’s struggle! Now, I surely hope there are some new kids to show off…I’ll be looking for them! Hope everything went (or will go) perfectly!
Welcome to weekend coffee share. I’ve been doing it fior a few weeks now and it’s really growing on me and I’ve found writing my weekly updates really helpful for giving a more holistic view of what’s going on that just my usual posts. I live and refer to my chronic illness in my blog and try to present a balanced impression of what that’s like…good and bad days and that weekly perspective seems a bit more honest.
I read about your fatigue and wonder whether you’ve had a check-up. It’s so easy to get rundown as a Mum but it’s also easy to attribute fatigue to motherhood when it might be something that needs further investigation.
So there you go. I’ve in between your lines and sought clarification! My kids are 11 and 9 and tomorrow my son goes on “The Canberra Excursion”. It’s like a right of passage in Australia that kids go there in years 5 or 6. I’ve excited for him but it’s pouring tonight. Thunder. Lightening. Even hail. Plus, he’s loaded up on lollies with Halloween and they do nasty things to the boy. Kept him lolly free today.
I smiled at your mention of the snake. Recently, we stayed at my in-laws’ farm and they get a lot of snakes…including venomous ones. Here’s a post you might enjoy.
Take care xx Rowena
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Hi Rowena, Thanks for stopping by! I really enjoying writing this post and agree that it’s just a different way of looking and expressing my week than I have in the past. I’m excited for your son to go on his excursion! It sounds like so much fun and such a wonderful learning experience! Thank you for bringing up a check up as I am due for one 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful week!
Good to see you for coffee! I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head as I read that you were worried about a snake not being warm enough! Had to rub my eyes and read it again!
Have a super week. I hope to see you again next week.
Thanks for popping over! Yes, I know, worrying about a snake seems funny, right? Just can’t help it 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Word: If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I really need to find a creative outlet, but am struggling to find a way to spend time practicing self-care these days.
If we were having coffee, I’d be so happy! Then I’d tell you that one of the books I’ve managed to complete lately was The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up and that oh, wow, it’s so simple but effective in changing thought patterns. So now my house is knee deep in piles of boxes for the thrift store and laundry (not tidy) and such a long to-do list. AND I have company coming next week. 😉
Enjoy your day, my friend. I’m off to make a cuppa!
Kris @ Attainable Sustainable recently posted…Stove Top Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Kris, so happy to “see” you! Your Magic book truly does sound like magic! We cleaned the garage yesterday and man, did that feel good! I can just see your piles and boxes (it always gets worse right before it gets better, doesn’t it?) and am sure it will be so rewarding when it’s just gone! Have a great week, Kris! xoxo
Happy belated wedding! I was the same as you after getting married, it’s just not that different afterwards. I struggle with self care too. I try to read, but my reading stints aren’t often enough for me to remember what’s going on in the book. I’m going to try to get back into drawing. That at least does not make be nauseous on the bus. Thank you for the coffee. I hope your head and back start feeling better soon!
Somber Scribbler recently posted…If We Were Having Coffee on Halloween….
Thank you for popping over! It’s a hard thing, isn’t it, that Self Care thing? So very important and yet so hard to pull off when the days are busy and the nights are long! Ah, drawing! Yes! I’d really love to start painting again…I keep thinking maybe that’s it, but I have some cleaning of my office to do before that can happen! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!