LITTLE STEPS BRING BIG CHANGE.
Start your healing today…two minutes at a time.
Grief is a long journey but you can heal two minutes at a time. Our weekly videos provide you with simple, doable activities that will help you heal your grieving heart at your own pace. From energy healing to eastern and western religion, these videos pull knowledge from a multitude of sources to provide you with unique healing tools to help you along your grief path.
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HOW TO TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT DEATH
Have you recently lost a loved one and are looking for a way to help your children? Check out my guest blog that I wrote for With Sympathy Gifts & Keepsakes. Chelsea continues to inspire me with her heartfelt messaging and the constant support she provides to those who are grieving. If you are struggling and are looking for ways to talk to your kids about death, here is the link to my article:
https://withsympathygifts.com/blog/griefsupport/how-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-death/
HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY TO ALL GRANPARENTS!
Happy Grandparent’s Day to all of the wonderful families out there celebrating this beautiful day. Grandparents enrich our lives every day and provide a source of extra love, family history and connection for our children.
If your family happens to be celebrating Angel Grandparents today, I encourage you to find a way to celebrate them even though they are in heaven. Serve their favorite meal for dinner, watch home videos that feature them or tell your favorite story about them. Today is about celebrating the love you have for your grandparents and giving gratitude for how they have made a difference in your life. Your heart will echo their love as you give thanks for how they have changed your life.
Thank you to ALL grandparents and Angel grandparents for all you have done to touch our lives. We are so grateful for the gifts you bring to us each day! Happy Grandparent’s Day!
Always Ask for what you want
This month, my oldest daughter turned 9, THE childhood half way mark. It’s hard to believe that in this same amount of time, she’ll be leaving for college and will begin her life “outside of the nest.” I’m a bit nostalgic and I am feeling the need to teach her all of her life lessons today, but I will keep to my most important one here.
My mom always told me, “You’re only on loan to me to teach you what I can teach you. Your real job is to go out there and make a difference in this world by living a good life that helps others.” She taught me to be strong and courageous, for I will only regret the things I didn’t do. To ensure I kept my regrets to a minimum, she taught me this incredibly important life lesson:
Always ask for what you want. What’s the worst that could happen? Someone says, “No.” What does that matter? No is just a word. Don’t allow yourself to put any power behind that word. It only sits among all the other words in the dictionary. Don’t let it mean anything to you and don’t let it stall your progress. It’s only a word. A “no” from one person is only an invitation to receive a yes from the right person.
Don’t get me wrong. All of your other childhood lessons apply here too. You must ask with nice manners; continue to make good choices so that they know you’re intentions are pure; and be gracious if you are told “no.” However, you never know what will happen if you don’t ask. Dreams can be realized and you may find yourself doing something you never thought possible. By asking for what you want, you own your own destiny rather than assuming other people share your vision. Just ask. It never hurts as long as you do it politely and with a good heart. Always put it out there because you never know, they may just say, “Yes.”
So my sweet little 9 year old, my wish for you is to own that beautiful life of yours; own all of your amazing dreams and don’t ever be scared of the word, “no.”
Happy Father’s Day- Life is ALWAYS worth celebrating!
Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for teaching me one of my most important life lessons- the importance of celebration. You celebrated EVERYTHING! There was always a reason to throw on Neil Diamond or your most recent 45 and have a spontaneous dance party in our living room. Upon winning my school election, I came home to a celebratory sign on our garage door. Every school success or failure was honored in some way- ranging from a choice of dinner to a silly home-made certificate telling me to get ‘em next time. I was traveling when I received my college acceptance letter, and you even wrote a poem just to tell me the news over the phone. At the Father Daughter dance at my sorority, you surprised me with our sorority letters in glitter on your cummerbund!!! I can’t thank you enough for all of your love and for showing me by example the importance of celebration.
As you can tell, it honestly did not matter how big or small the event, our family celebrated everything.
All of these celebrations were a blast, but more than it just being fun, these celebrations made me feel special and important. This positive reinforcement in our home allowed me to take more risks outside of our house because I knew I could home to a celebration, regardless of the outcome. There is no better way to handle life than through celebration.
It is no wonder then that I have found a way to turn the loss of my parents into an Angel Birthday celebration. It is the only way I can truly honor them. They loved a great party! I feel like it’s why I was supposed to have a childhood of crazy celebrations- it needed to be ingrained in me so I could find a way to bring the love and light of celebration into the darkness of grief.
My Dad was amazing and I want to celebrate him and all of the fathers out there today. None of this would be possible without you. I toast you and hope all of you enjoy your special day. Keep your party shoes on and remember that life is always worth celebrating! Happy Father’s Day!
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“We have a right to the work alone, not to its fruits.”
Life in the world of Angel Birthdays is busier than ever. We have a new cover and our sweet book is starting to receive more love than ever! I’m so proud and excited to announce that on the back of our Angel Birthdays book, we will have amazing endorsement quotes from the following people:
Mark Victor Hansen, Co-creator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series
Josh Shipp, Teen Behavior Expert
&
Deborah Tillman, America’s Supernanny on Lifetime Television
Words can not even express my gratitude for these people. I am so grateful for their support and their belief in the true healing power of Angel Birthdays.
There is so much going on right now. The opportunity to get ahead of myself is so tempting, but I am trying very hard not to think about the future. To keep myself present, I continue to focus on this quote from the Bhagavad Gita:
“You have a right to the work alone, not to its fruits.” -Bhagavad Gita 2-47
I wanted to share this with you because I feel like this is true whether we are launching something new, parenting a child or working in an office. We are all here to help one another, and we are all a part of a bigger plan. We should never do the work in order to obtain a certain result, e.g. a raise, a great report card from our child, or even amazing book sales.
We are simply in charge of the work laid before us. The results will take care of themselves. No matter how you fill your day, you are doing God’s work. To quote Panache Desai (when he was on my favorite show ever- Super Soul Sunday)
“Work is our excuse to share God’s love with whomever we encounter.
We are all doing Divine work because we are all exactly where God wants us to be.”
Thank you for doing your part and sharing your love everyday no matter where you find yourself!
Have a beautiful day!
Share TweetHeartfelt Gratitude for our Soldiers’ Protection and Life-lessons
This Memorial Day, I want to express my own gratitude for all who have given their life to protect us. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of altruism is the “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others .” Being in the military is one of the MOST altruistic things one could ever do, and we cannot thank you enough for your protection and for the life-lessons you have passed along to everyone who has had the honor of knowing you.
I gre
w up a Marine Corp brat (Ooh-rah!), watching my parents parade out of the house all glitzed up for the Marine Corps balls. I remember thinking my Daddy was so handsome in his dress blues and believing I was even prettier waltzing around in my mom’s ball dresses. I was so proud of my Daddy in and out of his uniform.
He was PROUD of his country. And at the time, he was my whole world, and I could not have been more proud of him. I want to thank him, and all who have gone before him, for protecting all of us. You are putting your life on the line for our country and leaving your own family for months at a time to serve our country just to protect us. In July, we will celebrate my dad’s 14th Angel Birthday. He died from cancer. He did not win a purple heart for this. His name is not on a hero’s plaque-although, he’s our hero. His military training trained us too. He taught us what integrity meant. He taught us to keep our name clean because it’s easier to keep it clean than to clean it up. He taught me how to polish my shoes with a t-shirt, some water and a can of polish. I can still remember his whistle while rubbing out my shoes scuffs.
Most importantly, he taught us the value of hard work and persistence. You never line up with your platoon to march one
single step. You must be prepared to take many steps together and you must be aware of the people around you. You can never forget you have people on all sides of you- respect them and honor them because these are the same people that will hold you up when you fall. Whether it’s your military platoon or your platoon of family and friends, it’s important to remember you’re never marching alone.
We cannot thank you enough, our military forces, for all you do for us every single day. We are grateful for your service, protection and all of your life lessons. To all who have given their lives for our protection and freedom, we are wishing you the most sincere Happy Angel Birthday. We truly celebrate you today and are so grateful for all you have done for us. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
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God’s Plan is never a second late. We are all here to help each other.
I spent the day today driving around San Francisco visiting all of the independent book stores to present Angel Birthdays in person. It was an awesome day! The reception of this book has been so amazing. It makes me so happy to have others see the healing power of Angel Birthdays too. I can’t wait for October!
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Celebrating Mothers Everywhere – on Earth and in Heaven
It
is the eve of Grandparents’ Day & Special Persons day at our school and five days before Mother’s Day. I call this my double-whammy week. With no living parents of my own and in-laws on the opposite coast, I find myself at a loss. A loss much greater than my own personal heartbreak of not having my parents here to guide me, but a loss of ability to provide something for my girls that goes without thought for so many other families. It kills me that I can’t give them this seemingly normal experience.
I can’t just produce a grandparent and I refuse to check the box on the form that invites us to “share someone else’s grandparent” – kind as that offer is. My solution for everything is to always send love to it and find a way to be grateful for it. I am so grateful for my brother and his family. We’ve made a pact to fill in for our parents where and how we can. With two busy families, we have done an amazing job and he and my sister-in-law truly both win the “most special person” award.
Pact or no pact though, I find myself scrambling in that first 10 minute welcome among the sea of grandparents to find my love and gratitude. I am grateful for our situation because without losing my mom, Angel Birthdays would not be here, but the primal urge to protect and give my children their grandparents sure takes over for those first 10 minutes of this annual event. This year, I wanted to give those 10 minutes of sadness purpose. So here are my Mother’s Day thoughts for everyone:
This Sunday, many of you will celebrate Mother’s Day, saying thank you to your mom for bringing you to life. Perhaps you’ll send her flowers, or take her to brunch, or simply give her a phone call so that she can hear the gratitude in your voice. Whether you’ve had a great relationship or a strained one, chances are you get that your mom is only human, and you appreciate all she’s done for you over the years. I hope you can take the time to say thank you and celebrate a little.
For those of you, like myself, who find themselves motherless on Mother’s Day, I want to offer a suggestion. Angel Birthdays was born out of the need to think of a loved one’s passing in a way that felt hopeful, positive and reassuring – to make the memory of that person a happy one, instead of something that’s too hard to bear. For me, Mother’s Day is another opportunity to do just that. While I might wake up on Sunday and feel that pang of suffering that so often hits me when I remember my mom is gone, I intend to make the day a celebration of her life. My husband and daughters and I will have brunch in her (and my!) honor. We’ll share our memories of her. We’ll laugh, and yes we’ll probably also cry. We’ll eat too much. We’ll do all the typical Mother’s Day activities.
And at the end of the day, before I go to sleep, I’ll talk to my mom (as I often do). I will tell her that I love her, that I appreciate her and that her life on this earth really meant something. And if I’m lucky, I’ll hear her voice in my head saying “I love you, too!”
Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!
