Family. Crazy. Balance.

"Commitment is like being pregnant, you either are or you're not.  You can't be kind of pregnant." - Susie Q. 

I have been trying real hard to implement balance in my life over the past few months, and for some reason it reminds me of this saying my coach liked to say now and again.  Pretty sure she used it with two purposes, to scare us into how committed to the game and our team we needed to be, and to also remind us to not get pregnant.  Either way, that ish worked.

 Susie herself! 

 She had some brilliant one liners and analogies, but of all the important things she taught me about character, responsibility and life, this one was my favorite.  You have to commit yourself to being balanced.  If you limp in one day out the next, then you're technically out of balance right there.  It's a tall order when you think of the balls we all have lobbed in the air at any given time:

work workout.healthy eating.hubs.dogs.running.running with Jackalope.cleaning the house.yoga?writing a blog.watching TV .not stepping in the ish that is drama and dragging it around the house (it smells).flossing.being a better golfer.perfecting protein shakes.slo-pitch (2 teams).getting ready for OTL.grilling out this Sunday.fixing up the new house.rocking your new job.making sure Jackalope doesn't drop a dooce on the neighbor's lawn...

In the end it's family that can hold your hand to keep you balanced so you don't fall, or laughs with at you and then helps you up.

Balancing this family can be a challenge wicked awesome good time.

You don't get to pick your family at birth, but you can as life goes on.  My real extended family is crazy.  We're talking out of control ruin your Christmas, birthday and funerals type crazy.  Luckily, at my core, my mom, dad, brother and hubs are awesome and have attracted the awesomeness of others to create our own brood. 

Someone's gotta hold Jackalope... Granddaddy loves his Granddogger, and refuses to hold his tongue about wanting a real Grandchild.

What I really appreciate about my melting pot of a family is that they just let me be.  They let me be cranky.  They let me eat bird food.  They let me go on rants about eating healthier as a family.  Most of them are just as competitive as I am (which is a whole 'notha level of crazy)...  My family takes enjoying-life pretty seriously, and in the summertime the sentiment is heightened.  We are known for volleyball BBQs in our back yard and have only been shut down by the cops twice in the 15 years or so I can remember playing for noise violations... 

My serves are as well mannered as my popped collar...

We are also known for food.  You cannot come to our house and leave feeling like you don't have to vomit from over eating.  It's not okay, you will want to vomit.  But in the past I have found that I gain weight every summer during the time when I am supposed to don a bikini and parade with these crazies at the river.  It doesn't make me happy, and I have yet to stay in balance through a summer.

My happy place is bringing thai lime cashews to the party...

But this year is different.  I am not going to kind-of be in balance, eat well during the week, and feed the screaming bloody murder chubby kid in my stomach on the weekends.  I am bringing healthy indulgences to the party like thai lime cashews, and eating what makes me happy, but not on behalf of the entire population because it's a "free day" and I will likely never see food again.

See only crazy sometimes.  Lies, crazy doesn't just go dormant...

And again, the fam dam taught me something about myself.  Balance in my eating, in my health, in my life and in my relationships comes down to commitment to each of those things separately.  It's not my family's job to yell at me for eating a plate of cheese sauce, they'd probably knuckle bump me, but they do make it their job to tell me when I am being a buzzkill to their good time.  I.E. Me overeating and then complaining about how terrible of a person I am for hours to come.  And mind you most of this self bashing happened to the old me, before I committed to a healthier me inside and out.  But when Jezebel gets out of her cage from time to time, I am thankful my family has no problem smacking her back into place.

Xo