che sera sera... dance into the brightness.

Almost 2 months ago I looked deep at myself and decided to make some changes for the better, from the inside out. My Grandma Betty passed away shortly before this, and she really was one of the biggest influences in my life. On the day she passed, she made her bed, perfectly, after suffering a heart attack. I tell you this not to make you sad, but to help you understand my sense of elevating the life I was currently living. My life was wonderful but I wasn't holding myself to the standards I deserved. If I were my own boss, I should have been fired.

The lady of the hour!  She was so smokin' haute huh? 

This was a lady who was married to a man who would literally drive away from my high school softball games if I did not go 3 for 3 with a homerun, so to say my roots are tangled with high standards would be an understatement.  But that's always been a blessing and not a curse for my life, I simply needed to be reminded to honor them.  Since these two months have passed I have stuck to a few new good habits that have made a world of difference in my daily standards.

The trusted running partner, ready to turn in after 4 miles.

Today I am happy to report that though I am missing my granny, dearly, I am doing my best everyday to carry on a bit of her legacy of greatness.  In the hopes that someday my children (far far in the future) will inherit her creed to live everyday with love and laughter, balanced with a big heaping of hard work.  She could always hang her hat on a day to proud of, everyday.  Jackalope and I with our morning runs, healthier eating, and desire to treat everyone, including ourselves, with joy and respect are doing our best to do her proud.

Jackalope definitely has an insatiable appetite for food and life, similar to Grandma Betty's really...

So really, I hope you dance now and always.  To the day my Granny passed, she loved to dance.  In the privacy of her home she would shut her blinds, fire up some Michael Buble, and dance the hours away.  I think it brought her moments of happiness, memories of her childhood, and of my grandfather whom she was ready to dance with again.  She was always right about one thing, you can't help but smile when you dance, regardless of the moment it's held within.

Bottoms up Granny!

So here's a toast to my Grandma.  For teaching me to be great, reminding me to be good to myself and to spoil the ones I love with my love everyday, because life is simply too short and too fun.   And since you were always a fan of dressing to nines, and not a fan of my sloppy sweats, here's a little bit of the fashionable legacy you left in me.  We always loved us some bright colors and tribal threads.  Must be our Swedish roots?

Bright. Bold. Navajo. Summer. by whitneybenj

Have a great day.  Great week.  And dance away the summer.