“Mom, do you think we [my sisters and I] will be peaceful people who have crystals and wisdom words like you?” ~Lexie age 7

I used to be a a business professional in sales and marketing who went to work in fancy suits and high heels everyday. I went to graduate school and was passionate about my career. Never did I believe I would be a stay-at-home mom for any period of time. And then, life twists and turns and decisions get made based on your place in the world. You find yourself in a place unimaginable from your 12, 15, 18 or even 30 year old self. Ha! Sometimes unimaginable from even a year ago.

But there you are, you look like the same person but everything in you is somehow different – you are deeper and more yourself, a self you have known all along but somehow remained invisible in the mirror. You find yourself okay when the stuffing seems to fall out of you like candy out of a broken open piñata, instead of scrambling to stuff it back in before anyone sees.

I am a mom of three beautiful girls who spends an inordinate amount of time in the car shuttling little people (and big ones) to soccer, dance, Girls Scouts and Brownies, volleyball, meets ups, music lessons, sleep overs and on and on depending on the season. I have a new love for gemstones (aka pretty rocks with metaphysical meanings), spa music plays continuously in my house and Taylor Swift (for said children) plays in my car. I have pictures up that say things like Delight, Joy, Love, Be Kind, Mom is Always Right, Be Happy and Namaste along with paintings from faraway places I have loved.

There is the coffee table covered with books, electronics, magazines, maps, and the latest craft projects. Bills pile up, corrected homework and school correspondence gets shuffled from pile to pile. Kids’ art is smattered throughout the kitchen slowly migrating to other places throughout the house, some art made from preschool and some last year. My window sill is cluttered with saying cards, pretty rocks, lots of pottery and more colorful art.

No longer a color theme, the downstairs looks as if a six year old with a box of crayons was in charge – red, yellow, blue, green, brown, black, orange. Looks like I better add some purple. There is always a vase of flowers and candles that look as though they have seen a better day but shine brightly giving our home a warm glow and the scent of a spa. Soft blankets and pillows strewn over the couch and floor, while Sage lazily checks the whereabouts of her people knowing she probably shouldn’t be on the light yellow couch with dirty paws. My home is my sanctuary. My home is me and my girls.

“I don’t know, Lexie, what do you think, will you be a peaceful person with crystals and wisdom words?” I question her back.

“No, I will be nothing like that,” my little one with big, sparkly blue eyes and yellow hair responds. “I don’t think so.”

Ha! She has no idea I am secretly brainwashing her to prefer peace, harmony and lots and lots of colorful LOVE. She will know no other way than the water in which she swims. “Okay,” I say. “We will see, little one.”