Life Lately

As I’m writing this week’s newsletter, I was thinking about the weekend that had just passed and the time spent with my two girls. Sitting and staring at this beautiful brick wall in the salon, the sun hits it so pretty and I see the ‘E’ reflecting off the wall. I’m taken back for a moment as I finally have this rare opportunity to sit in silence after finishing a long day, listening to the sweet sounds of the towels rolling around in the dryer thinking to myself “Pam just enjoy 10 more peaceful minutes here before you head home and have to dive into your motherly duties.” - You know, the whole cooking dinner, cleaning, entertaining the kids, and so on (although Oma is babysitting and she’s probably whipped up something delicious for the kids). 

While I take these few moments alone, I think about my accomplishments and how I’ve never really stopped to give myself proper credit. I’d like to think of myself as somebody who is humble, but sometimes, that humble person never thinks to give themself that pat on the back they deserve without the fear of seeming too egotistical.

For the sake of everyone else who feels this way, I’m going to give myself that credit I deserve (and so should you). These last few months have been crazy, I’ve worked so hard to regain a lot of the time that was lost during COVID and there’s no slowing down in sight. In addition to running the salon, both my husband and I have decided to keep the kids home for the first semester of school and continue with online learning. This decision was not easy in the slightest. As I said in my previous newsletter, it’s so hard to make a decision like this when you’re already thinking of how you’ll be judged based on the choice you make for your own family. We’re always thinking about others' opinions and how they’ll view us for our decisions but we made our decision based on what we felt comfortable with as parents and what was best for our family. No judgment to all the parents who’ve chosen to send their children back to school this fall, some don’t even have the option so we’re feeling fortunate. 

Thinking about my family and reflecting on these decisions, I do what I do every day to leave something behind for my children so when they’re older, they don’t have to hustle as hard as I did (although we should all hustle). I also think to myself how hard my husband works every day to provide for our family so we can invest in our girls’ future.

We’re always trying to make the best of everything for them but what we sometimes fail to realize is how to make the best out of an experience for ourselves. Kids won’t always remember everything you do for them, but they will remember how they felt in a moment. They’ll remember the little things, those moments of spending time together, cooking together and laughing with one another. So upon reflecting, I decided to change my perspective. Instead of viewing homeschooling my children as another burden added to my plate, I choose to look at it as an opportunity to spend time with my kids.  This is time for us to watch, teach, and mould our little girls into something great. I think of all the opportunities I’ll have to learn with them, to share my own passions such as baking and reading but also time I will never get back if I don’t take this opportunity that’s presented to me now. 

Even though they’re not going back to school physically, we’ll still keep our first-day-of-school traditions like showing off our new outfits and parading around the house with their backpack swag. I’m even looking forward to slower mornings where we drink our morning tea on the front porch while I read a short story to them or have lunch in the backyard. To be honest, I’m not sure how any of this will turn out, but the one thing I’m sure of is that I will cherish this journey watching them smile every single day and holding onto them tight remembering that in the blink of an eye, they’ll be teenagers who would rather spend every waking minute with their friends instead of me. 

This pandemic may have caused a lot of terrible things, but it has definitely created some new beginnings I’m grateful for. Although we’re all facing situations of uncertainty, we should try to think of the extra time we were given with our families and those precious moments we may never have experienced if it wasn’t for COVID. 

Thanks again as always for your continued support here at Elevate and know that we truly value you more than you will ever know!

Pammy

XO

P.S. I’ve been loving @thefabstory’s IG account and their illustrations for dealing with our emotions and tips to help us with day-to-day anxieties. Check out some of my favourites below…