Warning…This is a long one! I am not offended if you don’t read all. My middle daughter and I are in Orlando. I am so grateful for the modules 1-3 and Catherine lecture Tuesday May 5th! Day 1 “I put my ears on”. My daughter stressed with her work that she literally arrived at our long planned Disney restbit “unhinged” and disrespectful to the workers at the airport when she picked me up. She had an arrogant, I deserve everything attitude. We got into the car and she continued ranting. I just paused until the rant was over. Then I just parroted back “It sounds like to me your trip here was very stressful and you didn’t stop a long way and make sure that you had meals or even water am I right?” she agreed. Then I said how about we solve that problem first what are you hungry for? Day 2 As we we’re entering Universal Epoch Studios, She became unhinged again. This time the rant went in for longer and when it was over I paused again. This time I was box breathing because of the rant was personal. ( ignoring the personal insults of my adopted 33-year-old) What came out was, “ so what I hear you saying is that your job is so stressful that you feel like you have no place of peace?” she said yes, then I responded with “ Have you considered what options you’d like to take with that?” she calmed down and I did my best to give her space to think. She spun up two more times in the park. And I used the same tactic. I did eventually fail. And at the end of the evening, when she dressed me down for in the line to the bathroom “Didn’t you just go to the bathroom 15 minutes ago?” So I lost my resolve at 10pm and said “there’s no need to embarrass me in front of this line of people.” And I walked to find another restroom. And instead of following along behind. She left the park, while I was in the restroom. Without any text message or telling me where she went. It was closing time and she abandoned me. With no way to get to the hotel and not even an address for it. She finally answered the text message and told me she went to the car. I had to ask where the car was and with no signs in the parking she to get walk back to find me.

6:30 am it’s a regular wake up time for me today. My body just does it naturally, since I nursed my first child. After attending the Mother’s Day class with many of you the other night. I went to my ‘go to’ piece of PIES, intellect and listed to Brene’ Brown’s Daring Greatly, chapter 3 Understanding and combating Shame while I packed my bags for my morning flight. Before the second flight, the woman sitting next to me at the gate was a retired CEO for major engineering company, who now raises funds for free children’s clinics in her area. What surprised me was she reached into her bag, pulled out her business card and said, “I hope we can stay in touch.” That was a really nice surprise. After she walked away, I thought wow there’s the E in PIES! Which I received whole heartedly. So I thought OK if God is gonna give me the E maybe I should add a P before the next flight. One of the things she shared was “the importance of being authentic” in her world. So when she left I put my earbuds in and opened up my Tai Chi app. Which is not only calming, but it stretches my wounded shoulder. And I stretched for 10 minutes. Yes I got a couple of ‘what are you doing’ looks but I also got some ‘well that’s not a bad idea’ looks. The rest of the gate did not care what I was doing. (Thank the Lord.) So I got on the plane feeling a little more solid and a little more comfortable. So this morning is Sunday, THE “M” DAY. I just reread the Mother’s Day material from Catherine. I am going to get my coffee and and meet God in my study material for next Saturday. Expectant of the S for my PIES. Many times when I come to God’s word, even with a heavy heart. It is better than not coming at all.

Hello, I was encouraged to write something to the Community section. I'm new and quite nervous to post things so publicly. We live in a small, rural town where gossip can do wonders (in that people care) as well as damage. I don't ever want to say something that makes it harder for our 3 angry children to heal and be open to talking with us again. I also never spend this kind of money on myself and we aren't rich people. We had 8 children. Our 22 year old died of cancer June 4, 2025, one day after our grandson's first birthday and 2 days before my birthday. Meagan was a uniquely positive person that focused on helping others as a 911 dispatcher and friend to so many. She was huge in our community. But her attitude made it easier to accept how God might be working through even this. One of our adult children got mad at us at the funeral and 2 brothers decided to join her in not speaking to us and assuming the worst about us. How can we know what is the problem or explain our perspectives if we can't talk? There is one child in the home and the other 3 adult children all have come to talk with us and understand things, but our angry daughter's home is where "whatever" can happen, so they go there instead of to us. The oldest prefers to stay out of all of it. Our family is so fractured right now, but honestly, we were starting to have some communication issues as they graduated every 2 years (I've been hard of hearing but now have cochlear implants so now can use the phone but struggle to know what to say if I call). I have struggled to accept their choices (living together, drinking, etc), and make small talk and I think that's something I have to work on from MY perspective, not to fix them. Our church, which we've been so committed to for so many years became horrendous when a new pastor determined to clean up membership roles just as our adult children were dealing with their sister dying. My husband as an elder fought against removing the 3 (now mad) children from the roles since they weren't attending there anymore, but IDK if they know that. We told the one who had a child, but the other 2 won't even talk.

My daughter sent me a message on Sunday night about her dad ( who is an alcoholic) " I know my Dad is drinking again. He keeps calling me and hate not to answer the phone, but he only calls me when he is drinking. I can't have this stress in my life. Her dad and I are divorced. I responded to her in a text " Thinking of you, I know this situation with your dad is heartbreaking, Watching him struggle is awful and okay to feel angry and sad about it.. I need to remind you and myself, that we cannot control his addiction. It is a disease, but we cannot help him until he is ready to help himself. Please make sure you are setting boundaries to protect your heart . You are not responsible for fixing this, I love you" She responded with a heart and said I love you, Mom.