A few days ago the true intent of Magnolia Son was called into question.  There was a statement made that Magnolia Son was formed to overcompensate for my role as a bad parent to Christian.  Initially this bothered me and made me doubt my purpose and goals for Magnolia Son.  So I had a few hours of soul searching and then I remembered something that was long forgotten…… coming home one evening and fussing about a situation at work and comments that had been made by co-workers and Christian laughing and saying “Haters are gonna hate Mom.  Just let em’ hate.”  Then he paused and looked at me with his eyebrows raised and that smile on his face wordlessly saying “get over it.. you got this” before bounding down the stairs in typical hyper mode Christian style. And I had a true appreciation for the wisdom in those few words much more now than I had when the words were actually spoken…. haters are gonna hate.

In today’s world we all have our obstacles to overcome.  Tragedies come in all shapes and sizes. The word is not saved for only those of us who have lost a child.  In whatever situation we are struggling with we all play the “what if” game and the much more challenging game of  “I should have….”.   We make life hard enough on ourselves without the haters.  Was I a great parent… no.  Was I a “bad parent”…. I hope not.

This situation made me think of our family vacation to Mexico a few weeks ago.  I left home with one goal and that was to go on the zip line course because I knew Christian would have loved it.  When I pictured the zip line course though I did not envision the hike up the mountain that would be required.  I thought we would be dropped off at the top of the mountain and make our way down.  Maybe that is a stupid assumption but it made sense to me.  For any of you going to Mexico and planning on doing the zip lines there, let me inform you that it works the opposite way…. you make your way UP the MOUNTAIN which means you HIKE UP the MOUNTAIN in between stations vs. walking DOWN the MOUNTAIN.    For Lori Ladd, who I am reminded every week on Facebook that she runs 35-50 miles a week, this would be a walk in the park.  For Rae Andreacchio who has not walked a 1/2 mile in the last 5 years it was a heart attack in the making.  So as we are given instructions on everything we are not to do that would “piss them off” if we do those things I am not even thinking about the beautiful scenery or that I am going to be dangling hundreds of feet in the air and this should be an adrenaline rush.  No, I am too busy worried about not staying in the correct position so I do not start twisting and stop mid way on the zip line and the young, good looking Spanish speaking instructor does not get “pissed off” because he has to come drag my big butt the rest of the way back to the platform.

After completing the first zip line is when reality hit and I realized we had to not only hike up a rather steep incline but we also had to carry a 25# apparatus with us between stations.  After climbing to the next station and feeling mildly out of breath and dizzy I realized there might be a problem.  From that point on my only focus between stations was looking across to the other side of the mountain to see how much of a “hike” there was when we got to the other side.  Looking back now I don’t think I looked down once or enjoyed one scenic view due to being too focused on the upcoming challenge.  And poor Tracy…. I think she was worried she was going to have to have me medivaced out of there.  It was so pitiful she kept offering to carry my 25# zip line thing plus carry her own.  But she stayed right there with me and dragged my sorry butt all the way to the top.  I should have learned a lesson from that excursion and been motivated to get in shape, but nope…. that hasn’t happened yet!! 🙂  Sorry Lori I won’t be running with you anytime soon.

As I was driving from Louisville today I thought about how that zip line course was like a metaphor for the last 18 months of my life.  Initially living life and thinking everything is OK except for a few bumps in the road and some excess baggage that I thought time would take care of but overall life was not bad.  Too busy focused on preparing for future problems to enjoy the here and now.  And then when reality set in, not being prepared for the uphill climb that was required to stay in the game.  The only thing keeping me in the game and on the course was the encouragement from family and friends hauling me through the past 18 months.  Those same people offering to carry as much weight as I needed them to.

So I invite any of you who feel the haters discouraging you to not complete the course, to come and climb to the top of my mountain, enjoy the view and scream as loud as you can…..

              LET THE HATERS HATE!!!

And Christian….. I got this…

Love you – Mom

Pictures of our zip line adventure:  LOL

Two of my biggest encouragers accepting shoes for girls at the Crossings:

We were very grateful the Care Lodge allowed us to assist in helping a family with four children who had to leave their home with nothing.  Hopefully this will make their new start a little easier.

We are happy to continue to assist the Parent Resource Center at Meridian Public Schools with providing for their students: