Moving Forward. That is a concept I have been taught since I was young.  Whenever I went to my father or my Grandfather for advice in life they would always tell me, “Just keep moving forward.” It was the solution to almost every problem I would take to them, and over time I began to understand why.  We go through a lot in life.  We go through change and hard things and loss and sorrow and happiness and joy and then change again. It is a never ending stream of changes in our lives.  And whatever changes come, and no matter how difficult they are, the best thing we can do to maneuver them is to just keep moving forward.  Somehow when we move forward we find ourselves getting through it – when we move forward we get through hard times. When we move forward we cope with change. When we move forward we progress and progressing is what life is for.

This last week was a good one for me.  Last weekend was my birthday and my husband and my two kids took me to Phoenix to spend time together and then I took my kids to the One Direction concert which I wrote about last week.  We had an amazing time with our children and it was so nice to spend four days with them because I have missed them so much since they left to college. Then on Wednesday the kids flew back to school and my husband and I flew to Lake Powell to join four other couples for a couple’s only trip on our friend’s houseboat.  I was so sad to say goodbye to the kids…I hated to see them go again because it was so great to spend time together.  But I knew they had to get back to their classes and we had to get to Powell to meet our friends.  This was going to be our first time to Powell without any kids with us and I wondered if it would make me feel even sadder that I am an empty nester now, but that is not what happened at all.  We had a fantastic time with the other couples and it was so fun to spend time with my husband as a “couple” rather than “mom and dad”, if that makes sense.  We were like a couple on a group date and it was awesome!  Don’t get me wrong, I love being “mom and dad” more than anything, but I am realizing that this next chapter of life is going to allow my husband and I to be more of a “couple” again and we get to go on dates and couples trips and all kinds of fun things.  And so maybe this life of being an empty nester wouldn’t be ALL bad after all…

I love the quote in the title of today’s blog:  “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.”  It is such a great reminder that we need to let go of holding on to the past and instead start moving forward to the future with hope, anticipation, and excitement for the positive things that are going to come, because they will indeed come if we watch for them.   I am grateful for the fun week I had last week and for the reminder it provided me to stop re-reading the past chapters of my life as a mom and start living the next chapter of my life with full force and excitement.  Life is amazing and wonderful and a truly grand adventure.

It’s the beginning of a fantastic new week!  Let’s live it to the fullest!!!

~Amy