My Mom

I speak like her, quickly & quite a bit. I fly off the handle like she did. I cry like her. I have a soft heart like her. I am strong like her. I am so proud of her. More so, I am so proud to come from her.

My mother...if you know Velna, you know all of the above is true about her, two fold if you know me as well. She & I, we are so alike in more ways than either of us even realize.  I am really just so proud to be her daughter.

It wasn't long ago that you wouldn't have heard those words from me.  Not because I didn't love my Mom, but because I didn't understand.  I didn't get it.  I didn't see her as a person, she was just my Mom.  This woman I rammed heads with for how many ever years. I see her for so much more now.

We spent a lot time battling each other.  She wanted so much for me.  She saw things in me that I didn't see.  She saw me throwing away my life by not trying in school.  Little did I understand then, and really until recently, that she was angry with me because she loved me so damn much. I get it now. Hindsight....

She has always loved me the best way she knew how.  She has always worried about me. She has always been proud of me...all things that I've really come to realize since moving home.  I can't believe I ever doubted any of those things.  I was so wrapped up in my own anger, depression & anxiety.

In case you don't know my Mom, she's a really great person.  She loves with her whole heart, she's determined (our polite way of saying stubborn), she would honestly give her family the shirt off her back if we even hinted at needed it, she loves to sing, dance & laugh,. She loves her children so much, but there is nothing in comparison to the love she shows Katie.

My Mom, is the best Grammy!! Holy cow, she's awesome!! She loves little Katie Lou with every fiber of her being.  That little girl knows that Grammy loves her, she knows Grammy thinks she's smart, beautiful & funny. She loves her Grammy so much in return.  They are such a gift to each other.

I am so glad that we moved home.  It has allowed my Mom & I to heal our relationship.  It has allowed us to  love each other openly.  It has allowed us to become much more what we have both always wanted. Mostly, it has allowed me to realize what a gift I have in my Mom.

Mom, I love you.  I love you, I love you, I love you.  Thank you for always loving me & I get it now.

More than Enough

She dances around me all day long. Her soft brown locks joyfully bouncing with her every move. She amazes me.  I, often, sit and watch her. Observe her playful ways.  The expressions she makes when her favourite character of the moment does something silly or scary. The slight eye covering when she's a bit fearful of what is coming next. She is mine for sure.  She is his for sure, as well.  Such an amazing little combination of character traits and flaws too.

She counts to twelve regularly now, she once counted backwards from 5, and finished it with an exuberant 'BLASTOFF!'. She teaches me how to be silly again.  I run around my home pretending to be someone who enjoys running,  just to hear her squeals of delight, her little happy shrieks & 'MAMA! waiiit!'. She knows her colours, but more often than not will confuse pink & purple. My little love bug.

She has such a soft, kind heart. I worry for her. I used to be like that.  If we cough, she needs to know we're ok, no matter what room we're in. If she knows someone is sad, sick or has just a simple headache, she will mention it more times than you can ever count. She mentions it with pure concern though, and I worry about her.

She really is such a wonderful little ray of sunshine. Grammy sings her that song, along with many others. She loves it, she loves her. It is such an amazing gift to be able to watch my mother & daughter embrace like they do. Grammy crouches down, Katie runs for her, they connect, my heart swells. Every single time. She loves her Poppy too. Oh, so much!  She loves to take him by the hand & drag him around to show him things. Silly Poppy!!  It's just such a gift, there is no other word.

If I had nothing else to be thankful for in my life, she would be enough.  She is always more than enough & I plan to make sure she always knows that.  Our gift from the Universe, so smart, sweet & beautiful.  Always, sweet Katherine, you will be more than enough.

I'm not that girl

Today, I was showing Katie my baby pictures, at the back of the album were these 4 pictures.  Prom 1996. It wasn't my prom, but that of my very platonic friend.  If you look closely, you'll notice something in all 4 photos, I have my arms covering my stomach.  Also, if you look closely, you'll notice I wasn't that big. I was about 175lbs, 5'8, a bit chubby at best.  I felt immediately saddened for that girl.  I remember being that girl. So very vividly.  She was so insecure. She felt so out of place & really thought no boy would ever love her.

As a teenager, I really didn't feel like I was ever good enough.  I didn't have any sense of style, I hung out in the band room (I love all my band friends, but we all know we weren't the 'cool' kids), I was flunking math, science and anything else that didn't interest me & I was fat.  Soooo incredibly fat!!! Except, I wasn't.

I wasn't fat.  I wasn't stupid.  I wasn't uncool.  The thing is, it has taken me until now to realize that.

I am at the beginning of what I believe to be the biggest change of my life.  Less than 2 weeks ago, Jeff & I started living a healthier life. We've been watching what we eat, he has been walking a lot, I go sometimes, and it feels really great.  Neither of us feel like we're giving up much.  It feels good to care about myself & my Katherine enough to do this. I fully believe I'm getting mentally stronger because of it, as well.

For someone who believes so strongly in the power of positive thought, I have been sucking in & blowing out a lot of negative energy the last little while. I guess I have been realizing lately that because I'm not by nature, a super happy-go-lucky person, I need to be more aware of the energy I put out. I want great things, so I have to put out great energy! Bottom line.

I wish the girl in those pictures knew then what I know now about life.  I know everyone says it, but when you have the first real moment where you realize what you've been through in your life & how proud you should be sometimes just for being here, breathing, living & loving.  My god....I wish I had of known then what I know now.

I think I would've taken the right things much more seriously. I would not have been such a self-conscious follower, because really, look at me; I have blue hair, I am not a follower. I thought I needed approval from people then that now, I wouldn't be upset if they never spoke to me again because I am stronger than I ever knew I could be.

I spent a lot of years feeling weak & unimportant.  I really thought that every person I ever encountered would think of me as a hateful bitch. Now, I cannot even fathom how many years of my life I spent believing that. I didn't think anyone would like me. Even when I had friends, mostly through work, I never really let anyone in, because I didn't believe they would ever really like me if they knew me. I'm a hateful bitch. Except, I'm not.

I'm not any of the things that my really vicious internal dialogue has been telling me for as long as I can even remember. It's funny the things you remember from your childhood; at the forefront of my brain is one time when I was at a friend's place & her older brother made fun of me by saying I had 'gummy lips'.  I remember thinking it was such a horrible thing, it stuck with me, until recently when I've realized that women pay money for lips like these! Mine were free!  Buh-Bye silly voice in my head!

I'm beginning to feel this fire inside me, I feel strong & confident. The old voices telling me how fat my legs are, how embarrassed I should be for showing them in public, the ones telling me how much people won't like me at first sight because I have foolish hair or because I'm a hateful bitch, they're going away.

I'm not that girl anymore, I'm twice as old now as I was then. I'm glad that even though it has taken way too long, the sadness & fears that she held are becoming less and less mine. It feels good to love yourself.  Who knew?

Done. Deal.

Today, I had to fight with my mind to do what I wanted to do physically. My 'little' cousin got married in Moncton, I live about an hour & a half away.  Logically, easy peasy, lemon squeezy! In my mind, holy sweet mother of god, I can't possibly do this! IMPOSSIBLE! My heart raced most of the day today. I had few calm moments internally but that doesn't matter now, because I DID IT!!!

I told my Mom, I'm feeling anxious today, she said, so am I, then we walked in together. She gives me more strength than I let on.

I sat among my family and also, a bunch of strangers & watched my cousin get married. I cried tears of happiness for him(shocking, I know). I was there. That means a lot to me.

I, also, went to the crowded, hot, sticky mall. I miss Champlain Place, but today, like so many others when we lived in Moncton, caused me to feel antsy & unsettled. I did it though...

I'm finding strength in myself that I didn't know I had.  It's surprising....it is also hard to process, because I'm realizing that I've allowed myself to become a victim of my depression & anxiety. I let them 'be' Paula.  Who are you? I'm depressed & anxious.  My realization is that I'm not depression & anxiety. I'm just not & it won't win. Done. Deal.

Anxiety & Fear

Anxiety & fear are major parts of my life. I, honestly, don't remember there ever being a time in my life when I wasn't abnormally afraid of something. Anxiety has always been there as well. It's just the last year, however, that it has become a very serious issue. Fear has probably been the strongest guiding force in the course of my life.

As I said, I have been afraid for as long as I can remember....I don't know why, but I have been.  I remember hating to walk from the bus stop to my house, when I was in elementary, because I was always afraid someone would be following me. It was, at most, a five minute walk.  I have always been afraid of the dark, being outside after dark, & being home alone, especially after dark. Sickeningly terrified.

I can remember once when I was in grade 10, my parents had gone out, ironically to the house I currently live in, to visit my cousin & her husband.  I stayed home because I wanted to talk to my boyfriend on the phone. This meant, however, that I would essentially quarantine myself into my parent's bedroom.  That was what I always did. If I had to be home alone, I stayed upstairs. The doors locked downstairs. Anyhow, I was home alone, and I heard a car pull into the driveway & loud banging on the door. I thought I was going to die from how loudly my heart was racing.  They banged again.  No one ever banged on our door like that.  I peeked out the blinds & saw that a car had backed into our driveway, and as I peeked the person banging happened to come off the stairs & notice me. The car left.  I told my boyfriend that I had to call my Dad to come home, then I called him back.  That was 17 years ago. I remember the panic & fear like it was ten minutes ago.

I know some people get a weird rush from being mildly frightened. Scary movies, roller coasters & whatnot. I think these people are out of their minds!  I need to have Jeff mute the TV & tell me when it's okay to look again when a commercial for a scary movie comes on. I am thirty-three & those are real, honest to goodness, frightening things for me.

When I turned 16, I was not only uninterested in driving, but adamant that I was in no rush to drive. I was afraid. I felt like I couldn't do it.  I'm clumsy, a klutz & sometimes I have the attention span of a toddler. I couldn't drive. I just knew it. So, the idea of driving became my enemy.  Despite, the offers & ribbings by family members to both let them teach me to tormenting me for not just doing it.  'Just do it! Its easy!' they'd say.  I didn't WANT to do it.  No thank you, kindly leave me alone. I felt that way until two days ago.

Two or three weeks ago, I ran out of Cymbalta. I had two choices; call the clinic, get an appointment & get a refill, or go cold turkey. I knew deep down that I didn't want to take these pills anymore.  I knew as well, that it could be risky to not take them but I would never let myself even begin to slide into the depression that I have felt at my lowest.  If need be, I will take pills for the rest of my life to avoid that state of not being, but I wanted to try.

I have had a few low days, a few panicky days, but overall, I actually feel better. I felt like I was hiding behind my medication & disorders.  It's okay if I'm sad, snappy & withdrawn, I'm depressed. It's okay if I lay around & begin to gain a startling resemblance to Jabba the Hutt, I'm depressed. I'm allowed to be afraid & never try anything new, I have anxiety AND I'm depressed!! Double Golden ticket out!

I'm tired of being afraid of the 'what ifs' of life.  I am thirty-three, which I hope is still young enough to begin to get a real life, but old enough to have learned from my past.

I have a lot of silly fears & phobias. One of them being eating in restaurants.  This ties into my ibs, I mean what would happen IF my stomach were to get sick while I was in public?? At a restaurant!! I'm fairly certain axis would collide, right? Wrong. So very wrong.

This weekend, I decided to take baby steps toward controlling my future. Small steps that will have a huge overall impact on my family.  I decided to let go of my fear of driving.  Just let it go. I have collectively spent about 3-4hrs driving in the last two days.  Yesterday, I also decided to surprise Jeff & tackle my fear of eating in restaurants.  My end destination of my driving yesterday was Boston Pizza.  It was really great incredible to let go. Today, I drove all over the place, just out & about for 2 hours.  I loved it.

I can't even really describe how proud I am of myself.  I'm not one for tooting my own horn, but when I think about the walls I broke down for myself this weekend, it brings tears to my eyes.

Baby steps....

Clarity

Sometimes, I have moments of clarity in my life.
Knowing whole heartedly for a year that we would be moving home, because I had a moment of clarity. I put it out into the Universe. I set it free. I held up my end of the bargain. I believed. The Universe seemed to know I wasn't ready to work.  So, Jeff got the job that brought us back to Miramichi.
Well, anyhow...I've been having these moments of clarity lately. I need to lose weight. I'm terrified of the idea of not losing weight. I know that, I, like most other obese people, make promises to lose weight & get better all the time. I know that I'm just a cliche at this point, but I guess what I'm doing right now is asking you all for help. I feel like now is my time to do this for myself.
I need direction. I need common sense help. I need motivation.
I have a friend who says she has to lose an average adult male, and well, very sadly, so do I.
The truth hurts, but I have faith that it can be changed!
I get by with a little help from my friends

Right now

11pm, I'm sitting cross-legged on Katie's bedroom floor.

Jeff is at the Black Horse with his co-workers & spouses. I'm not there because of anxiety.

So, instead, I'm sitting here with my sciatic nerve screaming at me, because sweet Lou woke up scared. She needed her Mama.

I rocked my sweet girl, craddled poorly, in my arms. My little big girl, who says xylophone, & refers to a group of people as 'you guys'. She was scared, she told me that much between little sad sobs. I turned on her night light at her request. Now, I'm sitting here because, she wants me here and to be honest, I'm less lonely sitting in here with her.

I'm anxious for Jeff to get home. This is the first time I've been alone with Katie at night. It's weird & I can't say that I'm a fan.

As I sit here, listening to the soft gentle snore like breathes of my precious girl, I am realizing one thing... I wish had brought my glass of wine in with me...