Dear Ainsley....It's okay to say "no"

It has been three years since we suddenly lost mom and I haven't looked through the boxes that I packed shortly after she passed away and it hit me recently why I may be dragging my feet on this....I wished that mom had left me an advice book about how to raise a daughter, general life lessons, etc. Because I find myself frequently thinking what would mom say if I could call her.   

I worried that if I open the boxes and didn't find the advice/letters that would be a big loss. 

I then realized that while I may not have written advice from mom, I had 31 years of life with her--learning from her. 

This prompted me to think of advice that I want to give my Ainsley about being a mom and life in general. 

Hopefully I will be around for many, many years to be able to share these things with her in person--but I am a detail person so I like to have them written down!

So my advice today is...it is okay and healthy to say "no" to great opportunities.  I love to help others and normally find myself saying, "I can help"...without thinking... 

I was dropping you off at school yesterday and I told you we needed to be quick because I was late for a meeting. So I told you I loved you very much and would be back at the end of the day--I normally tell you this when we are in school, but I was multitasking in the car. We ran in school, I dropped you off with your teacher and zipped off to my meeting. 



After my meeting I was then thinking about all of the night meetings/engagements I've had recently and my heart was sad because I desperately wanted to be with YOU. You've been feeling the same way--you barely leave my side when I'm home. So I said "no" to a couple of things in the next few weeks so we can have more time together and I instantly felt SO much better.

I took a pause and chose what was most important to me--YOU and your dad. If you are very feeling stressed or pulled in a million different directions in school, college, marriage, when you have kids, etc--just pause, pray and set your priorities back to the basics. 
Love you sweet girl,
mom