Their Perfect Time Together

A baby lays asleep on the couch snuggled in her travel bassinet while her older sister plays games on her iPad, learning her ABCs and singing along with songs as they came up in her game on ABCMouse.Com. The TV plays a child’s show but neither baby nor child pays attention to it. Their mother sits tiredly on the couch, her eyes lovingly watching her baby sleep for a few minutes before her exhausted gaze shifts to where her oldest daughter sits at her feet. She may feel like a zombie but it is well worth the exhaustion, the stress, and everything else that comes to raising an independent loving little girl and bringing another strong baby girl into the world even though the world has become so confused and full of hate. Their mother sighs heavily as she thinks about having to raise these girls in the strange world, her mind and heart heavy. She looks at her daughters and hopes that they grow into beautiful, smart, independent, loving, caring women who won’t let the world or those living in it change their hearts or steer them off their path towards whatever it is that they wish to be when they grow up.

Her eyes wander to the couch beside her where her amazing husband sits, staring down at his laptop that sits propped on his black lap desk, his eyebrows knitted together as his fingers slide across the keyboard, the man never done with his work for the Navy and always giving his all to make sure that everyone is taken care of medically. The enjoyable clicking of the keyboard and the sight of her husband brings a smile to her face because she knows that she is not alone in raising her two daughters. The world may be scary but she knows that with the help of this incredible man beside her, their daughters will stand a chance. And with their families and all of their friends behind them, their daughters will always have the help they may need and will win in this crazy life of theirs.

She returns to her writing, a story flowing forth from her imagination and pen. She continues to write and to work on the story before her eyes, knowing that she must strive to work hard, get published, and show her girls that their dreams can come true if they keep striving for it, work hard, and never give up. Her eyes leave the page that she is writing on a few times as she looks to her sleeping sweet baby, to her older amazing daughter, and her perfect reliable husband, feeling truly blessed and at home with her little family. Her pen flies across the page, her mind whirling with thoughts and ideas, and a smile stays plastered to her face because as she sits there on their couch, she feels like this is their perfect time together. She can’t wait to make more beautiful memories as a new family of four, having already made some amazing memories as husband and wife and as a family of three. Life is an adventure and she knew that she has a great group of people to enjoy it with.

Advertisement

Amazing Story

As I had stated in an earlier blog, I had the amazing opportunity to meet a fellow blogger who wishes nothing more than to spread positivity to those in relationships. Well I am pleased to say and share with you the link that will take you to his website where you may read my story. It was a hard story to write because it was a hard topic for me to admit to but I am glad that I wrote it. My husband has also read it and he loved every bit of it because it spoke of love, truth, and how I am working on becoming a more verbal person in our relationship. Yes, I am talking about communication and how I struggled and still sometimes struggle today to use words on how to express myself in our relationship together. I still have that issue in other relationships but his and mine is the most important relationship where communication needs to be open and I need to be more willing to express how I am feeling or what is bothering me verbally and not just in writing.

I hope that you will visit his page and read the story that this blogger known as, InspireYourMarriage, has written that includes my story about communication and mine and my husband’s relationship. But I also hope that you will take the time to read the other blogs he has written with other people’s stories about their relationships because I think you will enjoy them. And if you have a positive story that you would love to share with the world, then by all means contact this blogger through his page and tell him that you have a story that you would love to share with him, his blog, and with the community on the Internet.

Here is the link to his blog that includes my story about myself and my amazing husband. I hope you enjoy reading his blog as much as I know he has enjoyed writing it. I too loved reading it and am pleased with how my story has been spun into his blog. If you read this, InspireYourMarriage, thank you again for allowing me to be apart of your blog.

https://www.inspireyourmarriage.com/2018/09/17/laceys-story-opening-up-verbally/

Mermaid Crystal Cove

Thin clouds slowly march across the yellow, orange, red, and slowly deepening blue sky as a lone figure steps out of a small cottage that sits high on a cliff. The light spring breeze pushes back on the figure’s midnight blue cloak and brushes back some long auburn hair from a pale slender face. A pair of sea foam green eyes peers down the cliff as the young woman steps close to the edge of the cliff, staring down into the angry waves below. Water sprays upwards at her, beckoning her to jump, to join the water, and to disappear underneath the cold ocean.

She can hear a voice behind her, a slight smile playing across her lips as she hears a male voice telling her to be careful near the edge. She turns away from the cliff, the breeze pushing her hair out from under her cloak and across her face as she watches a young man with shaggy brown hair pull on a deep forest green cloak over his shoulders, shielding himself from the growing night breeze, covering his crème colored shirt and dark brown pants. He waves at her to wait for him before she does anything crazy. She laughs, the laugh twinkling lightly like bells mixing with the crashing waves below her. She waits for the man to join her on the edge before she slips off her cloak and hands it to her beaux. He kisses her cheek as he takes the cloak and takes a step backwards in order to give her some room.

The woman turns on her bare heels to face the edge of the cliff, spreads her arms up high over her head, whispers a few words to the goddess of the waves, and leaps forward off of the cliff, making sure to push herself far away from the rocks that are jutting out on the cliff’s side. The man glows proudly as the woman plunges into the dark swirling waters below, the ocean engulfing her body completely. She rises above the surface moments later from the curling waves and looks up to see her love staring down at her with a smile on his face. She waves to him then points to the left of him where a path will lead him down to a small cove that is protected from the ocean yet is fed by ocean water and where the water sparkles like crystals under the pale glowing moon. He acknowledges her with a short wave then heads off down the path, her cloak swinging over his arm with the movements.

Once he reaches the end of the path, he slips his cloak off and places his and hers on a low dry tree branch from one of the few trees that scatter around the cove so that they wouldn’t get wet while he and his love sits in the cove. He walks to the nearest boulder that is next to the crystal blue water and sits down, his deep brown eyes watching the still surface as he waits. Soon a head emerges and two sea foam green eyes beam up at him, her long hair fanning out behind her on the water’s surface. He chuckles as she swims closer, lifting her nude body up out of the water until she is leaning on a rock that is slightly submerged below his seat. She pulls her hair over her shoulders and gently runs her fingers through it as she looks back towards the mouth of the cove that enters the crazy ocean beyond it. The water’s surface ripples again and more faces appear, swimming over to the rocks in the water in order to sit down, slipping up out of the water to sit on the still sunned warm rocks while others stay floating in the water, their colorful eyes on the man and woman. The moon beams dances along blue, green, red, purple, turquois, and orange tails as the mermaids and mermen of beyond the Crystal Cove settle in for their nightly story.

The man nods to his friends and pulls out a well-worn notebook, and flips it open to the page where they had left off the night before. He clears his throat and continues to read the fantasy story he has written himself about far off places where humans live in tall buildings and get around by driving strange things called vehicles. The mermaids and mermen listen to every word, as the stars seem to lean in closer to also hear the incredible story. Soon the moon nudges those below as he rises higher in the sky, and the man finishes his story, promising to write the next day a new story about humans and how they have learned how to fly in giant metal birds in his made up world. He says his goodbyes as he stands, shoves his story into his back pocket, and then leans down to pick up his mermaid from the waters, her lavender tail swishing back and forth as he carries her back to the path. The woman grabs their cloaks as they pass the tree where they still hang and the couple retreats home for another night, the cove behind them growing still after the last mermaid swims back into the sleepy ocean to return to their underwater kingdom for the rest of the night.

Driving Cross Country Series- #2

Well now that you have everything from your lists taken care of, what do you do now? What my husband and I did was sit down and Google all of the places that we wished to see along the way on our drive from Virginia to California. And yes we even made a list of the places we wished to see so that we could pick and choose which ones to do on this trip and what places to save for another time. We finalized our list of places to drive to along the way for a nice family trip, allowed our daughter put in her two cents since it made her feel like she was apart of the planning experience, and we were ready for the day to come when we would hit the dusty trails. We had a blow up mattress and a blow up couch from Wal-Mart that we used until we had to pack the car and leave. We said our good byes to where my husband used to work and to the friends we had made, piled into our van, and headed out of Virginia Beach with a car full of bags and other materials that we had to keep for cleaning the house we were renting. Our daughter had her own bags up front by her car seat where she could grab them and play with her iPad, read some books, play with the mess free coloring books, and her stuffed toy friends that she had picked to take with her as her entertainment. We had a cooler and bags of snacks behind the passenger seat so that we can easily have access to drinks and food along the way. My husband and I would make sure to take turns driving and napping so that we didn’t wear ourselves out with just one of us driving all day long. Always make sure that you share the responsibility in the driving. It will make the trip a lot more fun and enjoyable. Also as the passenger, make sure that you have the camera ready at hand and take pictures. The pictures might not seem like much or might be boring to some but to you and your family, they will mean something because you took them while in the car and outside of the car when stopped at one of your destinations that will remind you of the great adventure that you all went on together as a family. Capturing memories as they say.

Another important factor to make this road trip a good one besides having fun destinations and a camera is to make pit stops. Even if you don’t feel that you need one, other people in the car may need it and whether you think you do or not, you definitely need a stop and stretch your legs. It may make the trip seem longer but it will help you especially if you have kids who have to sit trapped in a car seat for hours on end. Their little legs are just dangling there, they may need to go potty, and yes they will get bored so a bit of distraction like getting out of the car will help them readjust to being back in the car for a bit longer. And of course make sure you always stop for gas and/or snacks and drinks when needed. Have an envelope in your car where you can store your receipts if you are military because it makes it so much easier on you or your SO, whichever is in the military, to turn everything in so that you can be reimbursed at the end of your trip.

To entertain yourself as the driver as well as your passenger, pick out some good long audiobooks in genres that you both like. An audiobook can definitely help the time go by if someone is napping in the car or if you two just wish to listen to something other than music from the radio or from Pandora or whatever else you listen to for music. Make sure you’re listening to something child appropriate or have your little one wear headphones and play on their iPad. Our daughter loved playing ABCMouse.com or PBS kids on her iPad, both great learning tools, while my husband and I would listen to our audiobooks or music or just chat. It was so much easier that she had so much to do in order to keep her entertained. Though there were times when she would complain about being bored or wanting to get out of the car and it’s those moments you find a rest stop or another place to stop, pull off the road, and let her out so she can stretch and get some fresh air. Then she was ready to jump back into the car and go, go, go.

Do what you can to make the trip as pleasant as you can for yourself as well as for the others you are traveling with so then the trip can go smoothly and without too many things going wrong or hopefully with nothing going wrong at all.

Remember- have a camera, take lots of pictures even if they might not seem remarkable to anyone but you and your family, have music and audiobooks to listen to, have plenty of games and other items for your child or children to play with so that they can stay entertained, have food and drinks close at hand in the car, make pit stops even if you don’t feel like you need them since someone else might need them especially your kid(s), and have an envelope in order to store all of your receipts that you collect while on the trip.