Good for the Soul Days

 Saturday was a good for the soul day. A few things that happened that were soul-filling for me: 

1. Soccer mom Saturdays are my favorite! I love cheering my boys on, and even better, this Saturday 8am game, I was not hungover, my stomach was not upset, and I generally just felt good and so happy to be there for my boys. 

2. My grandma, who is 88 years old, drove 45 minutes to watch my boys play soccer. She's amazing and I appreciate her role in my life. 

3. My husband was off on Saturday. This is a fairly new phenomenon for our family. Nick has worked weekends since I met him. When we met, he worked two jobs. One Monday - Friday at an orthopedic doctor's office, and Saturdays and Sundays at an urgent care. The man has an amazing work ethic, always has. But, that has also been really tough on our marriage because I felt like a single mom every single weekend. This shifted a bit when my parents moved 5 minutes from us about three years ago, but I still don't like to ask them to take my kids every weekend, because I'm the parent, it's not their job. (Mom guilt, anyone?) Anyway, the good thing about this weekend was it was Nick's weekend off. He works every other weekend now, instead of every weekend. Big win for our family dynamic for sure. 

4. I saw my nephew Ryder at my niece's soccer game. He just makes me smile, I love his naughty little self and I love that he usually tolerates me. We've had a work-in-progress closeness that I didn't have to really work for with my other nieces and nephews. 

5. Hugs from my mom. Those are always good for my soul. 

6. Seeing my dad in his element coaching soccer. He's 70 years old, and my hero. Always has been, always will be. Even more so seeing him coach this group of unruly 8 and 9 year old boys this season. Holy lack-of-attention-spans. 

7. I saw my oldest and dearest friend who I met when we lived on Monterey Street in Anaheim. She was my kindergarten protector, and I know I've written about her on this blog before, but she's basically my lifelong hero. She has been sober for 17 (almost 18) years, and she shared her full story with me on Saturday, which I've only heard in bits and pieces previously. She shared some resources with me and we generally just talked about life and sobriety and parenting and all the things. She is good for my soul. 

8. We had a family movie day with the little boys. The twins are more disconnected these days because they're working anywhere from 3-5 days a week, busy with school, friends, and their own social lives. I try to steal small moments with each of them when I can, but I know the age gap between my kids and them being in different life stages is hard for all of us to navigate. I can say I am so proud of them both, and they have such good work ethics for 16-year-olds. I'm a proud mama bear for sure. 

9. I got on the scale and though my weight loss has stalled dramatically since the first four months or so post-op (which my surgeon said was perfectly normal), I have hit the point of 70 pounds lost since my surgery on April 26th. So just a little over 5 months post-op, I'm down 70 pounds. Huge win for me! I feel better in my body and I feel like I'm coming back to MYSELF in so many ways. 

I told Nick when we played pickleball with the boys on Sunday that I surprised myself with how much faster I moved on the court than I did last spring when we would play. Losing 70 pounds has given me back so much of ME. Getting and staying sober will also give me back so much of ME, even the parts of me that I didn't ever really know because I hid them. 

What do your "good for the soul" days look like? I'd love to hear!