My mom always said, “Mind over matter!” She was right, of course. I could have headed into my birthday without expectation. My post yesterday morning looked like that’s where I was heading. And, somewhere between there and here, I heard my mom’s voice telling me “Mind over matter” and I pulled myself up by the bootstraps. First, I made sure I slept really well Friday night. I didn’t eat spicy food and I didn’t eat late. I took it easy on caffeine in the afternoon. And I practiced good sleep hygiene before bed, ie no TV, no news, soft music, and we slept in the camper. It was cool overnight so it was the best sleeping weather. 

I woke up completely refreshed and the sun was shining and we were knee deep in June! The green is so green it almost hurts your eyes. We had a nice, healthy breakfast of oats and fresh fruit and coffee and loaded up the tractor on the trailer. We hauled it over to the farm and knocked out the mowing in record time. We hit the road and stopped at the pizza place for sandwiches. After having a picnic by the river, we headed on home. 

All my people either called, FaceTimed, or texted me for my birthday. I got lots of pictures of Grandma’s flowers out at the farm. I had a Magnum Chocolate Caramel Ice Cream Bar as my “birthday cake”. Life is GOOD!

You know, bad stuff happens to everyone. We cannot always be sitting on top of the world. Sometimes we find ourselves in the valley. That’s normal…even though it sucks. And…like I said yesterday…it’s perfectly OK to NOT be OK sometimes. If you find yourself struggling often and you feel like you are floundering, it is ok to talk to a Mental Health professional. There is nothing wrong with that. I’ve had a lot of therapy in my life so I have a lot of tools in my toolbox to handle most situations. In this case, I just had to have a really good night’s sleep and tons of contact with people who love and support me…including all of you. 

Thank you all so much for the words of encouragement and the Happy Birthday Greetings! You really helped me pull myself up by the bootstraps and get moving and the day turned out to be grand!

Here’s to showing 67 how it’s done!

❤️

“For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.”

Proverbs 9:11 ESV