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‘Reflections of The Past’ is an award-winning photo series by commercial advertising photographer Tom Hussey. The photographs show an elderly person looking pensively at the reflection of his/her younger self in the mirror. Hussey was inspired by a World War II veteran who said “I can’t believe I’m going to be 80. I feel like […]

Such a gorgeous series.

dallasclayton

Dandelions

buildingbobbi

Saving this right here.

"There are so many people that use 'following your dreams' as an excuse to not work. When in reality, following your dreams, successfully, is nothing but work."

Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York creator and photographer

Magic words.

Halloween this year was an adventure. Sully has been asking to be Spider-Man for well over a month now and practiced saying "trick-or-treat!" for weeks. When Trick-or-Treat night finally rolled around, we were really impressed. For a little tyke, he carried himself well and insisted on taking only one piece of candy from each house we stopped at to visit. He was doing great! And then, not far into our adventure, he saw a clown. Let me tell ya, she was terrifying! I was carrying Sully and as soon as he caught sight of her, his legs dead-locked around my waist. We carried on with our night, stopped to rest and eat a hot dog (the local car dealership had their grill up and running), and then went home to call it a night.

The last few nights have been different though. Sully doesn't want to sleep by himself and tells me that he's scared. That damn clown! Last evening, after carrying out our bedtime routine for almost an hour, I finally told our little guy that if he's ever scared, all he has to yell is, "Mommy, I need you!" and I'll come running to his bedroom. It worked. He went to sleep and we didn't hear a peep all night.

This morning, we woke up excited for Sully's big Halloween parade at his daycare. We packed his costume and got him excited for the party. I showed up at his daycare in time for the parade and helped him collect tons of goodies from the different rooms. Things went great! Just as I was getting ready to leave, my little guy's eyes welled up with tears, he wrapped his arms around me, looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Mommy, I need you."

In that moment, I thought my heart was about to explode. How do I leave now? He got me. Within five minutes, I had a mini barrel-chested Spider-Man sitting the backseat of the Jeep and home we went.

Happy Halloween, friends!

Happy Halloween from the Hicks!

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Twinkle, Twinkle while he's trying to tinkle. 💙

champagnetoasts

People tell you a lot about how much parenting will change your life and they’re right. But usually they mean that you won’t ever sleep in again (you won’t) and a few other things about how much we “give up” to become parents. No one tells you how much you’re going to laugh. No one tells you how much wisdom resides in these small humans, how much they will teach you about love and life and friendship and forgiveness and worship. No one tells you how good and freeing it is to leave your selfishness behind. No one tells you about recapturing your own wonder and innocence, about re-reading the Ramona books, about playing football in the basement, about birthday parties and snow days and every day beauty. All the best things I know about the big nouns and verbs of a life came back into my life because of them.

Sarah Bessey (via champagnetoasts)

🍂🎃🍂 it's fall, ya'll 🍂🎃🍂

Change.

For some, the idea of laying down roots, growing into their home, and year-by-year etching a mark on the wall to track their baby's growth would be a dream come true. I work with people who've spent the last 20+ years supporting the same employer. A milestone that I know I'll never accomplish in my lifetime. I love those people. Their level of contentment and the pride that they take in knowing just where they belong is comforting.

I don't have that and, while refreshing to see in others, it's not actually something that I'm particularly found of achieving. There's something at the heart of who I am that needs change and, thankfully, I'm married to a man who feels the same way. We joke that the only thing we both consistently keep the same in our lives is the love we share for each other and our son.

Call me crazy, but I love learning a new neighborhood, getting lost in my own self-discovery, falling in love with my husband all over again in a new space, and watching strangers discover our son's spark. I actually enjoy knowing very few people, having to build connections, and once again rediscovering why I'm a person worthy of being called a friend.

It has been two years since we moved back to Huntingdon, one year since my husband took on a new position, and two years since I've changed employers.

For some, it sounds like we've barely sat still, but for us, the impulse to change has lit itself on fire once more. This time, instead of packing it all up and hitting the open road, we've decided to take some time to redefine ourselves in this space.

The Mister started running, quit drinking months ago, sold off thousands of dollars worth of hunting, fishing, and outdoor gear, and has laid his focus on qualifying for Loretta Lynn's. Over the last year, we've streamlined our relationships - prioritizing the ones that make our family better and walking away from the ones that didn't. We've started using the word "no" much more often. It has been amazing! Our weekends are much more rewarding when we're the ones who get to map them out. We've both dug into our work, outlined the places for growth and the skills that we still need to develop, and set a plan in place to make it happen. We've been staring at world maps much more these days and working to put funds behind our urge to explore foreign territory. We've put a lot of focus on identifying a place/neighborhood/community/school that is best for Sully and, this time around, we've constructed a two year plan that's focused on getting us there.

I can't help but feel like we're growing up. In our mid 20's, we leaped at every opportunity and barely evaluated the risk. No doubt, it was fun... and thankfully, also proved to be incredibly rewarding. In our late 20's/early 30's, we're discovering that taking a look ahead and preparing a staged plan isn't so bad after all. There's beauty in knowing that adventure awaits and comfort in realizing that we're at a stage in our lives that allows us to take a little more control of our destiny.

[picture via the lovely, Jill Isaacson]

Tomorrow morning, we're taking Sully to see his first Motorcross race. I was going through old drafts on here that never got posted and this seemed like a fitting one to finally bring to life. Originally written in the spring of 2014.

Boys & Bikes.

These are my boys. Both love bikes.

At 7AM this morning, I walked downstairs to see both of my boys watching racing videos. Dudes hitting big air, dirt flying, Radioactive playing in the background. It was that kind of morning.

The littlest one yells out a "WooHoo!" The big one laughs.

Ten minutes later, the big one shuts down the YouTube video. The littlest one goes into an all-out meltdown.

"Kids on bikes! Watch kids on bikes," he pleads.

We tell him that it's time to start our day.

He throws his hands in the air, screams, shouts, tears fly, and within a few minutes, he's vomiting all over the couch.

I'm speechless. It's amazing how intensely passion can manifest itself inside a two year old.

Checking out a "cool tree". Sully asked me if this is where the monkeys live. 😂

Growing up with your friends is awesome.

There's a new girl that started at Sully's daycare. She has Down Syndrome and has been having a difficult time playing on some of the toys on the playground. Today, when I picked Sully up from school his teacher pulled me off to the side and said that when they went outside to play, Sully noticed that she was having a hard time, so he ran over, held her hand, and helped her climb on some of the toys. Later, during story time, he sat next to her and told all of the other kids to "be gentle" when they ran over to join the circle. I know he's just a little boy and that he doesn't fully understand everything that he did today to make someone else feel special, but it brings my heart so much joy to hear about his kindness in action.

A Season of Change.

This summer has been difficult. There has been so much to write about, but so little that I actually wanted to share. Things are different over here in a "life has changed" kind of way.

I experienced loss recently: a grandmother & a brother. In the same day. Fourteen minutes apart. Exact opposite sides of the country. Chills still fall over me as I think of my mom talking about her mother leading her son into the light. I remember a time when I didn't know or understand the pain of loss. I also remember a point in time when the mourning of loss occurred just a moment after a last breath fell short of reaching into existence. This summer, I felt the sting of loss months - perhaps even years, if I'm honest, before it took place. Addiction is heartless.

And then, there's the flip side of the coin. I watched a friend, a best friend, look into her daughter's eyes for the first time and experience the joy of staring into the face of perfection - of innocence. In that moment, it's impossible not to see the beauty in your maker. Even in the heaviest of situations that occur in parenting, there's a sweeping thankfulness that consumes you.

They say new life makes losing life easier to understand. I think I get that now.

Sully says: "Mommy is a Super Pooper?" Let the potty training games begin! 💩

Today is my best friend's day. She celebrates turning 28.

This morning, as I was drinking my coffee, I started going through photos of our adventures together over the past decade. With each click, my eyes began welling up with tears. Call me a sap, but this girl - she has been there. Our experiences together are ... monumental (to say the least).

It all started in college. We shared a college dorm and then spent a summer waiting tables and being far too wild together in Ocean City.

That following fall, we jumped out of a plane together - twice!

After college, we both moved away from the small central PA town where we became friends and then, less than two years later, we both moved back. Neighbors, again!

We spent the next year training and training and then training some more. Over the course of one unbelievable year, I followed Kim through over 1200 miles of trails and city scapes as we geared up to compete together in 80 miles worth or marathons, trail races, and a triathlon. Short story: At one event, I started off the morning with a pre-race flat fixing session that forced me to miss breakfast and barely make my start. Before the second session of my race, Kim tracked down my set up location (sacrificing her own finish time) and dropped me off some fuel up food. Always looking out!

She was my wing man at our wedding celebration and my husband and I were the officiant at hers. Two days that go down in history.

When my husband was deployed - Kim was more than a friend. She was my family. She put regular lunch dates on my calendar and included me in her family dinners. She picked up Sully from daycare on my travel days, fed him, and taught him about farm life. She cheered me on endlessly as I was balancing a heavy load and did her best to lift the weight from my shoulders.

And when our son was born, she was the first friend to hold Sullivan and the person who stayed and documented our family and friends doing the same - even though she had a surprise party planned that afternoon to celebrate her now husband's 30th. In a few weeks, I cannot wait to return the favor as she celebrates her baby girl's welcome into the world.

I could go on for days about this gal. She's a good friend. Strike that - she's a great friend and I'm so incredibly lucky to call her my best.

Cheers to the next decade of adventures together, Kim!

The Road Ahead.

For awhile, I had to put this little piece of me on the back burner for a variety of reasons. Namely, I started to feel like I was writing for an audience or, rather, being selective about what I wrote about, because of an audience.

The desire to write has slowly started to trump my insecurities. My triumphs, my struggles, my dreams and discoveries - I need them in print, because there's something about organizing and rationalizing my thoughts, in a way that can only happen on this screen, that's therapeutic.

Recently, I've been facing a turning point in life. One in which I'm not sure where the road ahead is going to lead. And I mean that quite literally. For a brief minute, I felt like I really had life pinned down. But over the last few weeks, as I lay in bed at night, the mantra:This world is too big to be thinking so small plays on repeat.

And then anxiety sets in.

There's a beautiful home in the mountains that bears our address, my name is perfectly printed on a business card that makes me proud, the mister finally has a career that puts his family first, our neighbors and friends are the things that dreams are made of, and the list goes on.

But I can't shut off my intuition that this place we're at in life is just a stepping stone. And so the wheels have started to turn again. Where the road will lead us and when we'll start traveling on it, I'm not really sure. All I know is that it's time to take to writing about the journey again.

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