September, 2023

This month flew by! Both kids are in Flag Football and loving it! They each have practice one day a week, followed by games every Friday for Friday Night Lights. Sometimes, their games happen to be at the same time, but usually, they are staggered with some time in between to go to the playground.

Our beach days continue, along with the warm weather. We took all four dogs to dog beach, and also went to the Pacific Air show with Grandpa Glennie.

We purchased passes to Universal Studios last December when we visited with family but did not have an opportunity to ride the tram. With the expiration date looming, we boldly worked in a few weekday trips, right after school. It was totally worth being tired the next day. 

Aut and I also had our Ed Sheeran concert at SoFi Stadium, a birthday gift from Dad and Glen. It was an incredible experience to be in a stadium of 81,000 people and in the very front. We had to get there super early, but it was worth it! I had to run 18 miles early the next morning - my last long run in preparation for the Long Beach marathon on 10/15. My very first marathon since having children, but 16th overall. Since I first ran the Los Angeles Marathon back in 2003 and swore I would never do another one, I have now officially been running marathons for 20 years.

I continue mailing the kids a card or two each year with hand-written notes in them. I have so few from my mom and cherish them immensely. I need to get a fire-proof box to store them in but for now, they are tucked away and all together for them to read. In their Halloween cards, I wrote the following, from Donna Ashworth's new book, Wild Hope. At least this blog is fire-proof. As extra insurance, I have also transferred all entries over to my new Substack, if you'd like to follow me there. I'll continue posting here as well. As extra insurance.

DEAR DAUGHTER

I hope with all my heart that I showed you the real me.
That I didn’t pretend I had it all together, or that life was not hard.
I hope I gave you the belief of you, in your core.
That I loved you enough, albeit messily, to code a blueprint for life.
To show you what love should look like.
And I hope I let you see me break, so you could understand, it is not an ending, rather a step.
And it’s vital.
Dear Daughter, I could not possibly have gotten everything right, and perhaps, thats the best thing I have given you.
That knowledge. No one gets it right.
We are not here to be perfect, we are here to love, to grow stronger and more bright with every generation.
Grow brighter my love, brighter than me.
As it very much should be.
And when I can no longer be with you, remember, my cells live within you.
You cannot, ever, lose me.
Not really.
We are a deal, a two for one.
A team.
For life.
And everything after that.

Donna Ashworth @donnaashworthwords From ‘Wild Hope’

DEAR SON,

The bond a mother has with her boy is like a beautiful black-hole of utter love and adoration.

It is all-consuming, never-ending and mightier than us.

Women know one another by intuition and instinct, you see.

We are of the same.

But when a woman creates a boy, something else quite magical happens.

I hope I showed you that power, that force.

I hope you feel it still.

I hope I taught you what it is to respect a woman, to respect all humans, and to never lose yourself in the process.

I pray you see how strong you are, by allowing yourself be soft too, that’s the key

And most of all, I hope you check your heart when you can no longer pick up the phone to me.

Check the little chasms of your heart, my love.

That’s where I stored the things you need, the love you need, the ‘mum’ you need.

My boy, my beautiful beautiful boy.

You had me at first sight.

You have me for life.

And everything after that.

Donna Ashworth

From’Wild Hope’