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The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because shit worked out. They got that way because shit went wrong, and they handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it. -Elizabeth Gilbert
I am currently listening to the podcast We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle. This has been a season of Jen Theisen telling herself she can do hard things. I hear myself saying I can do hard things throughout the day. Some days, I am speaking in my head. On others, I am openly chanting my new mantra to the chagrin of the man at Menards, who has helped me four times in one day to accumulate all the things I need for yet another attempt at a home project. Insights I have learned while doing hard things: I do not want to be a contractor, it turns out you do need to clean the gutters spring and fall, gardening should be called dirt therapy, changing the oil in the lawnmower is not that hard, you can run while mowing (it’s a thing). I had a close call with a flooding basement (reference gutter cleaning). It was torrentially pouring rain—well, maybe not torrential, but that is what it felt like to me. I had just finished scooping all the water from the window well, feeling quite proud of myself; but not for long, as I saw the other side-end gutter had zero water coming out, but the gutter on the roof was bowing. I realized I didn’t have a ladder. I looked around and saw the neighbors had left their garage door open, and in my eyeshot, I saw a very tall ladder perched on his wall. I raced over and rang the bell; no answer. Desperate, I weighed up my consequences. I pulled the giant ladder across the street and hoisted my now completely soaked self in my dress and rain boots up the ladder. I looked to where it was bowing: nothing. I did, however, get bombarded with what felt like a tidal wave of water on my face. Now at this point, I was loudly chanting I can do hard things. I climbed back down the ladder and moved it a bit closer to the edge of the gutter. Just like that, I pulled the clog, and a gush of water came through the unclogged gutter. Turns out I can do hard things.
Ladies, in the new season of navigating hard things, my family is celebrating some milestones in our world. Number four love of my life—aka Goose, Baby Gus, Auggie, August, Gus-Gus—graduated from high school. It snuck up on me as I watched all the last events and last games and dances. It didn’t hit me until I saw him walking in his graduation gear with all the pomp and circumstance. For a moment, I saw the boy I once knew. When I looked again, there was a man where the boy once was. Gus has given me so many reasons to be proud of the man he has become, but the proudest moment for me is telling others he is my son. He has his wings. He is ready to fly to the moon and back, sweet boy.
This edition is so full of stories that will help us realize how we can better navigate hard things. My hope for you, all my beautiful readers, is that you can also find strength in your ability to embrace hard things … that amid challenging specialties, there is joy.
So, let’s have some fun this summer.
I plan to embrace every moment.
The journey continues in faith, family, friends, fitness, and finance.
