Tag Archive for: premature birth

Magical Moment: Can You Be Certain?

Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

Hey Sweet Friend,

I’ve been thinking a lot about you and wondering how you are.

How you’re adjusting to this “new normal.”

So much of this time reminds me of when our daughter, Andie was born so prematurely. That was a time full of so much uncertainty. It was scary, confusing and exhausting. Just like now.

There are times when I look back and wonder how I got through that period in our lives.

But the reality is, I just did. Because I didn’t have a choice.

The choice I did have, however, was how I showed up in the midst of the crisis. At first it wasn’t pretty – at all. But eventually I found my footing and started to recognize that there were practices I could put in place to support and sustain myself for the long journey ahead.

It’s the stuff I talk about all the time now. Creating structure in your days, making time for just you – ways to feed your soul and refill your depleted well – drinking lots of water, moving your body, sitting for a few quiet minutes and taking in some deep breaths.

So simple… yet a consistent daily practice is something certain we can rely on in the midst of times of uncertainty.

Lately, I’ve been thinking lots about all the moms at home with kids – juggling their work, making meals, teaching school and every other aspects of life falling on their shoulders right now. (Dads I know you’re out there doing your part, too!)

Climbing into bed last week, I had the idea that I wanted to somehow send my book, A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Magical Life to all the moms out there who needed a little something for themselves. A little gift and reminder that they matter and it’s ok to take a little time for themselves. But the post office was out of the question, so how would I get books to the people who need them most? I woke the next day and shared my idea with Lee. “I wish I could stand in our front yard and throw the books into the air and magically they’d land in the homes of all the moms who would benefit.”

From there the idea arrived that I could do this on a local level… put a whole bunch of books in a place where moms could come and take a copy.

The reporter who wrote an article when Preemie was first published kindly offered to write an article to help spread the word…

Local Author Offers Copies of Mindfulness Book for Free

Finally, it was quite a magical and powerful moment to sit side by side with my girl, Andie and listen to her answer questions written in asking about her experience as a former preemie.

An Interview With My Grown-Up Preemie Daughter

Much love,

Kasey

 

Here’s to Endings and New Beginnings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am the proud Mama of a high school graduate!

For all of you who have followed my book, Preemie: Lessons in Love, Life, and Motherhood and know the story of our girl’s birth, you know that moments like these hold an extra sprinkle of significance.

Yet, I was so busy getting ready for the event of graduation – cleaning the house, making beds for family and friends, ordering platters of food, replying to graduation party invites, and attending end of year presentations, that I wasn’t really thinking anything about the significance of this moment at all.

And yet, once the day of graduation arrived, and we all sat on folding chairs under the big white tent, and I looked up on that stage and saw our daughter with a huge smile on her face, my throat constricted, and tears started forming behind my eyes.

She’s no longer a preemie, but I couldn’t help but imagine, what if, in all those dark, uncertain moments, we’d been given just a glimpse of the young woman she’d one day become? Just a quick peek behind that curtain. I began to imagine how differently I would have moved through those days. How I would have been so much less afraid and so much more present to both our baby in the hospital and our beautiful two-year-old, Tucker at home.

But, alas, as a dear friend once said, Life don’t work that way, girlfriend.

So I grabbed a tissue from my purse and decided that instead of looking back on what could have been, I can be present to this current moment and allow myself to see what is right in front of me. A beautiful, confident, ambitious, young woman.

And at the same moment, I allow myself to think of all the other parents currently facing the unknown with their babies, and send out a blessing and intention that someday, they too, will be sitting in a crowd of weepy and cheering families watching their former preemies move across a stage to mark the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another.

And what a beginning this will be for our girl, as she has deferred her college acceptance for a year and heads off on a Gap Year program that takes her traveling to different countries all over the world.

New beginnings for us all!

The Magic and Messiness of Motherhood

Hello Friend!

This weekend I’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom and my daughter, as we travel up to Syracuse, NY for a couple of book events!

On Thursday, I’ll be speaking at an event for a local hospital that’s doing a huge NICU expansion to better meet the needs of families throughout the greater central New York area!

Friday evening, I’ll be at the local Barnes and Noble, reading and signing from A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Magical Life.

Both events feel so timely with the arrival of Mother’s Day weekend!

As I plan for travel, making sure I’m packing all I need, while at the same time ensuring all is taken care of at home, I got thinking about the role of Mom and all that entails.

In particular, the way we need to be so flexible, especially in times when all our planning doesn’t exactly go the way we intended!

I thought back to the time when Preemie was about to be published, and my publisher suggested I make a promo video for the book.

A videographer was arranged, a date was picked, and a basic concept for the video was created.

Lee, myself and the kids on the lake, just being us, just being together.

At ten o’clock the night before we were due to film, the letter I read to my daughter in the video came pouring through, and I knew it was meant to be a part of the video.

I was delighted to have received such a gift and felt it would really enhance the video.

Then at ten thirty, that same night, just as I’d finished writing that letter, the front door opened, bringing in a warm summer breeze, along with Lee and Tucker, who’d been spray painting boat parts in the garage…

And they were both BLUE – like Papa Smurf and Baby Smurf!

I had to hold on to the door frame to keep myself from falling over!

I had to unclench my fists before running over and punching Lee!

I had to take several deep breaths to keep myself from screaming!

And then I had to figure out how we were going to get out of this mess!

Every surface they touched on the way the shower turned blue. The shower curtain had to be thrown out.

An hour later, they were both wrapped in towels, shriveled and shaking – the hot water long gone, but they were mostly not blue.

Then the laughter began. Laughter that could not be stopped.

And I knew in that moment that much of the magic of motherhood comes from those unpredictable, unforgettable, messy moments!

To this day there’s still a blue handprint on the towel rack in the bathroom. For a while, I tried to scrub it off, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Now I look at it and just smile.

And remember. And rest assure, that it’s all perfect.

Messy and perfect.

And here’s the video to prove it!

A Letter to My Daughter

May your Mother’s Day be full of memories, Magic, and maybe even a little messiness!

With love and blessings,

Kasey

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