Don't Wait for the Side of the Road- A conversation we need to have before we need to have it.

Happy Sunday! Mere here with you today! Before I get ahead of myself I need you to go and block off your calendars for Wednesday, April 29th from 6-7:30pm EST! That is it...that is all I can say for now (and you know I am dying inside to share more!) Just stay tuned. There is an announcement coming and you are not going to want to miss it.

Okay. Now that that's out of my system...

I've got something on my heart this weekend and I want to share it with you before the day gets away from us. This has been a very reflective season for me….on family, on future, on health, on life over all and on what we protect. But it's also been a season of shedding, coming back to myself… or perhaps better put.... creation. And that part actually started with something I never thought I'd say again.

I ran outside! Yep, I ran outside for the first time since 2009. Now let’s be clear this was programmed and is being periodized. Not running since 2009 (I was doing other forms of cardio) this girl did not run for 30 minutes let alone 5 minutes straight ha ha. I did a ‘WOG’ ha ha… a walk/jog for 30 minutes and It felt like something unlocked. Yes physically… but there is just something about being outside, the heat, the humidity, the sun, untethered…it felt like coming home to myself yet a more mature grounded self ... .a confident season.

I'm telling you this because it connects to something bigger I've been sitting with.

Many of you have been walking this season with me. My dad, the caregiving, the memory care, the broken systems. It changed me. It's still changing me because the business all of these systems, including death, is not quick. And the more I process it, the more I realize I can't keep this to myself.

I wrote a blog this week that I need you to read.

It's called Don't Wait for the Side of the Road, and it's about an idea we've been told… that there's supposed to be one terrifying, undeniable moment that gives us permission to act when someone we love is declining. It's about my dad. It's about autonomy and pride and the impossible tension of loving someone who won't choose what they need. And it's about the practical, uncomfortable, deeply important things you need to have in place before you're in crisis.

This is not light reading. But it is necessary reading. Because this conversation is coming for you whether you're ready or not. And I would rather you be ready.

[Read the full blog here]

This weekend, whatever your version of Easter looks like whether it's church or brunch or hiding eggs or just a quiet morning, I hope you hold the people you love a little closer. And I hope you also hold yourself in that circle. You matter in this equation too. Your health, your plans, your preparation … looking after yourself , your needs…is not selfish. It's the foundation everything else sits on.

With love and a whole lot of fire behind it

Mere and Sarah