Life Is Like A Beach Ball

DEVELOPING ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS found HERE. It includes advice I wish I had known when I started the process of online dating such as using a separate email just for dating sites or new people, and setting up a buddy phone call code phrase for first dates that go south and you need an excuse to get out fast.

ART OF FRENCH KISSING found HERE. This is my take on what makes a French kiss unforgettable. It gives you some styles that women do not appreciate and what really makes them melt in your arms.

OBSERVATIONS BY A PRESCHOOL TEACHER found HERE. Just a few observations I've gathered over the years as a preschool teacher of young children. Hoping that parents will reward the good behavior not the bad behavior of their children.

SOME DAYS ARE LIKE THAT found HERE. A not quite so typical day of a preschool teacher but one we can laugh about none the less. And as parents and teachers that can relate to one or more of the events happening in their lives, you realize when they all happen on the same day, all you can do is laugh when the mom finds you and the child in the bathroom with a wet shoe.

If you would like to read more of my hubs, just check out the rest of them HERE. I hope you find some that make you smile, as drink your morning coffee.

Is your life like a beach ball in God's hands?

Sometimes no matter how much I’ve tried to bring order to my life, it feels like my life's a beach ball.

I have had goals in my life, to finish school, to become a teacher, to get married and raise a family. Yes they seem pretty ordinary a simple path. But wait, wait… Bam I fell in love with a guy that was going to school in a different state than my teaching license. So my beach ball is bopped out of that goal and I settle for becoming a preschool teacher. I loved it probably even more so than teaching in the school systems. I realized I adore younger children. And then the beach ball is bopped again as we find ourselves moving to another state for my husband’s career. And then we seem to be back on course its rolling along with just a few bounces and we start that family, 2 wonderful children. Here’s where it feels like the ball is bouncing on the waves crashing towards a beach. Bills, schedules, volunteering, fieldtrips, music lessons, activities they all bop my life in different directions at the same time, running here and there with our calendars and phones in our purses (well now our calendars on our phones lol) trying to coordinate lives that sometimes feel out of control.

And then the big slam dunk - a friend or a relative (in my case, it’s my beloved grandmother) dies. And with this one we feel that hole in our life. The slow leak of air hissing out that deflates us-not knowing if we can hold ourselves together for our immediate family. Sometimes we even need a little breath of help from our best friend to get us back in shape.

Then just as you think your life is back to bouncing on the ocean again, my beach ball flew out of bounds with my divorce. Whether you saw this hit building on the horizon or it blindsided you, it takes a long time to get back to the center of court. And yes some holes can result from this batting out of bounds too. It takes time to recover emotionally and financially and after you do recover personally it still feels like the children are batting you between them with the comparisons about how the other spouse lets them do this now or buys them that now, while your still struggling to keep up with it all.

Then if you’re lucky sometimes an unexpected punt can send you soaring into someone else’s arms. You’re caught and examined lovingly and your patches may even be decorated with hearts because you’re loved despite the holes they cover. These are the detours that make the beach ball game of life a joyous surprise. Does this catcher keep you or pass your ball back into the foray, I’m not even sure the beach ball knows .

And at some point your beach ball may roll into the mud of caring for a loved one (parent, child or spouse) that is sick or had an injury. Whether it rolled there because you knew something wasn’t quite right or it got batted unexpectedly, it doesn’t really matter. The mud is the same, a daily routine of being a constant caregiver that pulls you down, sucking you in, if you’re there too long. Hopefully that person that caught you can also pull you out of the mud, wash you off and take you to the beach once in awhile or sometimes you need to rely on a friend. Because you know that their life has been a beach ball too and you just might be the one breathing life back into theirs once in a great while.

The only thing I do know is that my life has had all of the bounces, twists, detours, whops and flights of a beach ball. And I never know where exactly my ball is going to go or what it is going to collide with next. Have you had times in your life where you feel like yours is a beach ball too?

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