I feel like I said “Happy New Year” just last week.  These are the times when I truly wish I was a kid again.  When you are a kid, you have no concept of time at all.  Remember?  You play, laugh, love, nap, rewind, fast forward and repeat.  What a life!  I remember the very moment when Nathaniel said to me, “The summer went by so fast.”  I knew, right then, that he was transitioning into early adulthood.  Exciting, but also, a little bit sad.

Now that we are approaching April, take the time to be a kid again.  Close your eyes and reminisce about your favorite pastimes.  This is my favorite form of meditation.

Get outside and play!  Watch out for that big hole in the sand.  I purposefully sat down right behind it to see if any kids would play in it.  Not a one!  Very disappointed.  Kids these days.  I have fond memories of our beach vacations.  Sean would dig a big ole hole and Nathaniel and Samantha would play in it all day long.  I can see and hear them now.

It’s like opening up a Christmas present.  This beautiful orchid was left behind by the prior owners of our house.  I adopted it and kept it safe from the elements.  You know the snow blizzards that we get all the time.  To my surprise, this magnificent flower greeted me one morning.  WOW!  There are several buds, which means more presents are coming.  I can’t wait!  Orchids are so delicate, exotic and simply beautiful.  You can almost feel the softness of the petals on your cheek just by admiring them.

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We celebrated Nathaniel’s 26th birthday yesterday.  We love our good egg, Nathaniel.  Look how cute he is playing with a little fella on the beach.  It was a fun-filled day at the beach, our favorite place on this planet.  Nathaniel was gifted with a precious book called The Good Egg.  I reviewed it on Amazon and the message seemed fitting for the occasion.  Little did I know, one of the good egg’s friend is Shelby.  So true and what a coincidence!  You decide.

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Baby, it’s cold in the water.  It took over 30 minutes, but I did it!  I was coaxed by a sweet 11 year old girl, Carly, from Illinois.  It was her very first time at the beach and her very first time in sea water.  She was having a blast, despite her very bad sunburn from the day before.  I bet the very cool water felt soothing on her skin.  Since it was her first, I decided to make it my first time too.  I have never swum in the sea in March, and as a matter of fact, I have never put by body in the sea this early in the year.  Water temperature was hovering in the low 70’s.

It was cold, but somewhat refreshing.  My body was numb but it soon warmed up.  As you can see, not many spring breakers out there with me.  I love the little children’s voices in the background.  Happy times!

Challenge yourself and make it happen!

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I told you so.  I’m living it up this year!  You should too.  This weekend was an all out smash hit!

My good friend, Colleen, introduced me to the Hamilton soundtrack back in my dark days.  She said, “You will love it.”  She was right.  I listened non-stop to the music and fell in love with the melodies and the words.  It’s brilliant writing.  The storytelling and music inspired me to fight, be hopeful and win my war.  I won!  I have so many favorite lines.  One line is “talk less, smile more.”  Nowadays, this is very hard for me; I talk a lot and no one is a stranger to me.  Ask Colleen,  I do smile a lot though.

Colleen and I went to see Hamilton on Saturday.  My Lyft driver dropped me off right in front of this beautfiul statue.  Of course,  a colorful butterfly resting on a heart.  All of my favorites – red, purple, blue and green.  If that’s not a sign from mom, I don’t know what.  Colleen and I share a bond of missing our moms.  I had to get a picture of us.  I stopped a friendly looking man walking by and asked if he would take our picture.  Of course he agreed.  I noticed he had a Hamilton ID lanyard on his neck.  I said, “Are you going into work with Hamilton?”  He replied, “Yes.” I said “What do you do?”  He said “I play the guitar.”  No way, he’s with the band.  What perfect timing, or purposefully synchronized by our moms.  Our moms would have loved Hamilton.  Colleen’s mom would have loved this statue.

All I can say is Hamilton is my man, other than Sean, of course.  The actors and the dancing, oh the dancing, brought the very familiar words to life.  I am in love.  I can’t get the music out of my head.  I hope to see Hamilton on Broadway one day!

First dunk in the water for the year.  Frigid and refreshing.  Peace.