Losing most of the use of my legs was surprisingly minor. My voice is going rapidly and I’m beginning to truly grasp how much of our identity is expressed through voice. My foo talks over one another. My dad was one of 11 (in thirteen years) and they’re loud and boisterous. I snapped at him a month ago and said, “If you don’t make space for me to talk then I can’t talk.” People don’t mean to talk over but I take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to speak now. The rate is impaired as is volume. Can I admit the idea of mom-ing still young kids and teens without my voice is just totally overwhelming some days like today? 😭

This. ^ I am so glad you have answers.

I find the label mid life crisis dismissive - it essentially slaps a label which is used mockingly on something that happens to many *in this stage of life * which is why I elaborated so much in my post.

Magnesium L Threonate for neurological issues IMO.

We had this happen in our family. I did 23 and Me. I laughed about, “Oh look, a long lost cousin…” It got unfunny very quickly once I realized he had to be a FIRST cousin. My aunt had given up a baby for adoption many years ago, most of the family never knew. She has looked for him to no avail. I got to meet him last year. Ours was a wonderful story and ironically, out of about thirty first cousins, I’d say he bears the strongest family resemblance. ♥️ i hope you have the same wonderful turnout.

I don't think it's depression or menopause. I think it's a stage of life. I spent my twenties knowing everything. 😛 I was so confident and bold and self UNAWARE. I think my 30s were about, "You do you, Kelly." I stopped telling others what THEY should do and began focusing on changing ME. My mantra became, "Eyes on your own paper." I began to wonder about what I thought I knew and what I didn't yet know. At almost 40 my life changed forever. My oldest daughter went to college and I missed US so much. (Embarassingly I will admit she lived AT HOME for college, but it was still a pivotal time in my life.) I had my last baby. I very nearly died in a horrific miscarriage, and later I was ultimately diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. An acquaintance I barely knew well enough to wave to committed suicide and it rocked my world - she was my age, a homeschooling mom of many, some of our kids were in same circles. I think we have regrets over the stupidity of young us. I don't like younger me much. I admire her bold confidence, but she influenced others and they paid the cost of her brash, assertive confidence. She was outspoken (good) but so "in your face" that she didn't touch people like she could have had she had more empathy. My 40-44/45 I was nearly paralyzed by regret and by a lack of grace for younger me. I encourage you that I think you too will come to forgive your younger self. You just didn't know what you didn't know. Who you are now, with your knowledge, understanding, and experiences? Your younger self did not have the benefit of all that. Show her the mercy and grace you'd extend to a friend. You can not undo. I think you will find comfort in voicing your apologies. But I'll also tell you to not "set up camp" in that place. I would encourage you to apologize but not spend FIVE years despising your younger version. She just didn't know what you now understand. Forgive her,, recognize you still will NEVER do things perfectly, and go live life. Life is too short for you to live paralyzed in a place of regret for five years.

Big box is the cheap version. I’ve been willing to nurse them along and be okay with slower growth. However, after our big derecho hit the next spring was very short on trees and Covid too, the only place we found to buy from that has what I wanted was a family run tree farm. We paid a fortune for that tree. It’s now been two years? Hands down, it is the best looking and growing tree we’ve planted in the past eight years since we moved there and we’ve planted about two dozen different trees. It’s made me a convert although I can’t turn down $80 blue spruce when Costco gets them. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you for starting the thread. I actually am going to do it as well and order digital photos. I won't tell the fam the purpose, but I think I'll print our next kiddo's grad pics at the same time so it's not weird.

Yep! I had a late night c-section of a 36 weeker who was a footling breech. And while a c-section isn’t what anyone wants, I’ll add that I ended up with a beautiful and healthy little girl and later had eight successful VBACs. I am hopeful your baby will turn, I just wanted to add some positivity to the other potential scenario. ♥️

I am so sorry for your loss.

Someone somewhere has proven this to be so, but *only * if it’s grass fed.

I’m taking suggestions. 😉 We have DD’s baby shower this weekend, roughly forty guests. We’re going to make croissant sandwiches a la Costco and beautiful cupcakes that DD13 spent the weekend tweaking and perfecting. We have drinks planned. What else?

Here I never thought we’d see “normal” houses hitting $500k. Now they’re everywhere. We moved back to the Midwest eight years ago. We paid a smidge over $200k for a 2100+ sq ft house on almost two acres in a string school district. DH had a 20 minute commute. The house was outdated but no structural issues and it was about 25-30 years old. Today it is worth between double and triple the price. It’s fantastic except one thing - if we sell, we have to buy. Right now it’s an interesting game of chicken. We thought I’d be working part time. With my health we’re realizing we’ll need someone to come in to help care for me, likely in the next 6-12 months. Will we find someone to travel? Nursing care is tight everywhere, why would someone commute for two hours a day unless the pay was exorbitant? Rent here has been high. It is cheaper to buy than to rent for young people so that is encouraging. But I know our oldest would like to move up in house but they are (with good reason) hesitant to but a house with double their current interest rate.

Heart and liver are both excellent for you but I have no idea why they insist you make them yourself. It’s easily bought. Link

She's a TESOL major and she'll take 5 classes there which will transfer. Thank you! We're told courses will be taught in English but by non native speakers, We have location and estimated costs. It will bill through her university and her financial aid will apply. She will also receive a small stipend for participating in English conversations. $700 of airfare is reimbursable. I'll do more research on the hosting university. Thank you! Room and board and stipend included. I'm not sure about the schedule and we'll check on that. She came into her first year with roughly 30-35 DE CC credits in basic required credits so I'm not concerned even if it did put her behind her current expected graduation. It will be dorm like housing. They room three native English speaking students with a host student. After some of her research, she is set on South Korea. (Consequently, her brother may also be stationed in So. Korea at the same time. That would be amazing.) She is sad her university doesn't offer Korean as a language option. She had four years of Spanish in high school and is in Mandarin at university, but wanted Korean. She does know a limited amount - hundreds of hours of K drama might help a little? Thank you!

I’d never heard of homeschooling until I was a senior in high school. I don’t think, as a kid, that I realized kids had experiences outside of my own normal.

We nurtured relationships for years. As we were eventually recognized to show up on time, they allowed us to make multi-kid appointments. My pediatrician is about 45-50 minutes away but she's been our ped since 2000. She also has 8 kids. But it has been the same with optometrists, dentists, etc. My daughter has a similar situation with her kiddos. Initially she took them to her childhood ped but that's a long drive with itty bitties and with well child visits. Her ped is a homeschool dad. Ask around homeschool friends for a family friendly doc. Then make sure you are communicative, friendly, reliable. That's the only advice I have. 😉

Bill, You are the one who convinced me to switch once upon a time before it became wildly popular. The first weekend of cold brew, we drank *far* more coffee than humans should. Ways to decrease acidity: https://fluentincoffee.com/is-cold-brew-less-acidic/

I have a Bunn Classic that I love. Super hot and always ready for a second pot.

@Spryte Are there other options? Often teaching/research hospitals are the best in their field and take insurance. Mayo takes insurance. I've not run across this before except in the Lyme community where the treatments are not yet accepted by the medical community. I am so sorry. Medical stuff is exhausting and you're dealing with it tired, hurting, and medical bureaucracy operates on a non urgent timeline. 😞

DD is planning a semester abroad next year. Application deadline is March 1. None of our others did semesters abroad, so I'm not even sure what to ask. She's had four years of Spanish and two semesters of Mandarin, but she is really thinking Japan or South Korea. Does that matter?

Yes, this. College courses do generally become more challenging later in the semester. And, even if this one does not, having breathing time his first semester of DE classes is good for mental health. 😉

I came across this while reading a couple articles from Jeff Levy and I think every parent should file it away: https://grownandflown.com/fifteen-biggest-financial-aid-fafsa-mistakes/

My son is ROTC and will be FT Army after graduation in May. DH was enlisted Army. One consideration is that so much could change between now and graduation. Is he really sure he wants to make the commitment more than a year before leaving?

I wonder…. Does the lack of rioting illustrate just how hopeless people feel that there can be effective change?