Friday Favorites
Happy Friday friends! It is Spring Break this week for my family but nothing too terribly exciting going on around here. Carly and I will be heading to Fort Worth today and the boys are hanging out waiting to see if the rain will cancel Dillon’s tourney in San Antonio or not so we will be a family divided!
Here are a few of my favorites this week!
{ONE}
I participated in the Spring Cheer Exchange hosted by Rachel at Floral & Fudge and Astleigh at The Hill Collection Blog and it was super exciting to receive a fun surprise in the mail! You can read all about my box here as well as link to the Spring Cheer link up and see all the fun boxes delivered this week!
{TWO}
I traveled to my hometown to take my Mamaw Dorothy to the neurologist in Sugar Land. Bless her sweet heart. This woman is 88 years old and has lost all of her children and my brother and I are all she has left. She still gets up every day and puts on her makeup and loves to shop and dress nice. Unfortunately she is battling a nasty autoimmune disease, Myasthenia Gravis, which causes her eyes to droop to the point they are almost closed and of course with your eyelids closed you just can’t see well. Add to this stubbornness and a little 88 year old forgetfulness and you really just have to have a little sense of humor to spend the day with her. When she got in the car with me she said “Do I look tacky? Because I just hate to look tacky!” A hot little mess she is!
After returning from the doctor I drug out all 30…yes 3-0 pair of shoes from her closet. Mind you she lives in an assisted living facility..one room!! I finally was able to convince her to part with 10 pair. I was in heaven getting to purge…it’s my favorite thing to do! When we were done she said “Now I need to go shopping! I have a coupon at Palais Royal I need to use.” I had to give her a little speech about the one in one out rule!
{THREE}
After that I needed some fun and I knew exactly what I needed. My first two years of junior college I worked at a local ranch near town. These two ladies taught me so much about running an office. I learned how to keep up with receivables and payables, could rock a 10 key and even audited cattle which included washing some nasty ear tags. They also helped with life lessons as well all had some crazy in our lives and I was glad to have them with me when I found out I was about to head off to Texas A&M as a single mom. And they taught me how to mix a drink in a red solo cup using the lines to determine just the right amount of vodka! Important life lessons. I have not been out to see these ladies in like 8 years and I knew it was just the place I needed to go this week. We had such an amazing visit and my heart was completely full when I left. Special friends…VV and Maggie will always have a super special place in my heart.
{FOUR}
I then met this boy right here for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. My little brother knows more about me than probably anyone…every bad decision, every ridiculously embarrassing thing I’ve ever done, all the ugly stuff you want to bury and forget and he still loves me with all his heart. He is the most kind hearted person and has always been there for me no questions asked. I know he would never fail me or dessert me no matter what I do. We had margaritas and literally talked for two hours. This picture totally sucks but trust me it was a perfect two hours alone with this guy!
{FIVE}
So I haven’t shared a whole lot about my story but if you have been around you know I was a single mom when I had my oldest and you can read a little about that here if you like. I was 21 and in college and added her brother before finally graduating when he was 2 months old. I was married to their dad for 7 years and then it was just the three of us for awhile as I tried to figure stuff out. Somehow my Bigs have both turned out to be amazing kids and young adults and today I received an email from Jordan sharing an article. Her email read “this article could have been written by me, love you!” Of course I dropped everything to read it immediately. This was seriously so touching to me that she would have felt this connection and gave me some reassurance that all the crazy wasn’t all that bad. For those of you out there who were young moms or are going through being a young mom right now you have to read this!
Me and my girl at my college graduation in 1993! I was the same age she is right now.
Gosh…and now I’m reading back over this and wiping tears off my face! Sometimes the greatest things that happen during my week are the things that stir up emotion and make me really think about the road I’ve been on and appreciate all the people who have meant so much along the way. This was one of those weeks!
One shameless plug….TCU baseball will be playing Oklahoma State and the Sunday game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1…not sure where all that will be but if you are into baseball you should totally check it out.
See where I might be linking up here.
Have a great weekend!
So much goodness in one post! Loved it all! And, your bigs (and littles!) are the best! The direct result of God knowing just who their mama needed to be!
I love the picture of you and your girl!!! So sweet!!! Your grandma sounds awesome!! I am cracking up over her asking if she looked tacky!!! I hate looking tacky too!! lol 🙂 Have a great weekend!
mamawish Dorothy is my kind of gal!! I hate to look tacky, too! You're the best, Shelly!!
Oh my goodness, what a sweet article! Your last point had me a bit misty, lady.
Hope you have a great weekend, GO FROGS!!!
Your spring cheer box was so fun! How very sweet that your daughter sent you that article!! And your Mamaw sounds like a hoot. 😉 Have a great weekend. 🙂
Thanks Amy! It was fun participating in the Spring Cheer Exchange.
You gotta love a little boost to know you are doing things right! What a wonderful daughter to give you such a reminder! Have a great weekend!
Thanks Sandra! I think back and worry about many of the choices I made and have definitely made better choices with my second two but I think my Bigs see things differently than I do thank goodness.
Your Mamaw sounds like such a firecracker, and I'm so glad she has you to help look after her. It broke my heart when I read she had lost all of her children. And it sounds like you have such a special relationship with Jordan. I definitely think you look like you could be sisters, and that was so sweet that she sent you that article. My mom was a somewhat young mom, having me at age 22. I think it can make you closer to "grow up" together. Have a great weekend!
She's a super strong woman and it's so sad because she cannot cry. She has lots of bitterness but she wakes up every day and gets dressed and tries to make the most of her days.
Have a great weekend!
My favorite thing to do is purge too! Doesn't it feel amazing!!!
I'm so hoping I can change out my closet tomorrow and do more purging…I love it! My mom is a total pack rat deluxe and I just don't get how she lives that way.
Stopping by from the Friday 5 linkup….I love your last point about being a young mom and definitely will be reading that article. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by Deena!
Your mawmaw is precious!!!!!! Love!!! The story of you being a young mother is so heart warming…I am really enjoying getting to "know" you through your blog, you are very inspirational. And I will have to see if I can find any of your son's games online- my boys would think it is so cool to watch them! Xoxo
Thanks for reading Andrea! Rough night at the ballpark last night….hoping for a win today!
I love this list!!! It is always nice to get some family time!
Melanie @ meandmr.com
Ok here's the deal….I love you. My mom had me super young and I basically grew up with her instead of her watching me grow up. I have the utmost respect for you because I know it wasn't easy. What a great mom you are and a lovely addition to this world. I love your story. GO girl!
Thank you so much Amanda! It is so crazy because I know it must not have been easy but I guess I just had not other option so looking back I honestly sometimes think our times back then were somewhat simpler than they are today! We had no money for fancy dinners out or jetting off for vacation and we spent our time together just acting silly. Now that I"m a "grown up" I"m not sure I feel as free to act so silly….maybe I should work on that! Thank you so much for reading.