I didn’t plan this….I should say that now. One year ago this week I was at the lowest point in my life. I was moving forward, reluctantly, with little plans for what I was going to do an hour from any moment, let alone where I’d be a year from then. I spent this week last year off social media, moving through life feeling quite numb…wondering what to do next….

I didn’t plan this….I should say that now. One year ago this week I was at the lowest point in my life. I was moving forward, reluctantly, with little plans for what I was going to do an hour from any moment, let alone where I’d be a year from then. I spent this week last year off social media, moving through life feeling quite numb…wondering what to do next….

Call me old fashioned but my mom made it clear when we were younger, she wasn’t our friend. She was mean, never let us stay out and drink with our friends, never let us have ice cream for dinner and never cared if we had cool clothes. She just insisted on us being warm, well fed and loved beyond measure. Ridiculous!!!

I had a similar approach to motherhood. I took every “You’re a horrible mom!” or “Why can’t you be cool like the other moms?” as a badge of honor. It meant they had boundaries. It meant they knew where the line was. It meant they knew right from wrong and who to talk to when that was hard to decipher. I’ve rocked this philosophy for 23 years and I’m pretty proud of how they’ve all turned out. (minus some stinky moments and an aversion to deodorant, which is a lot more recent than I’d like to acknowledge) Until this past week….I turned 51 and my daughter Brooke, aka Birdie, posted this picture to her IG story…