About Jenny & Maggie

In each of our own ways, your two friendly bloggers came to the mutual understanding that life had sent us on a trip through the wringer, left us hung out to dry, and now, there wasn’t much that resembled the vivacious, hopeful, excited best friends we’d once been (so close, in fact, that our students called us sisters!)  We knew those ladies still existed. They were dormant and resting, perhaps, but still there. They just had to be!

We realized that through the hardships of life, we had forgotten what had once driven us, the moments we’d been totally and completely fulfilled, when we had lived for the passion and thrill of our mere existence, for the possibilities of an unforeseen future.  But things were different now. It wasn’t uncommon for us to wake up with a sense of dread, a fear that we would walk into a day that would be strenuously hard, a burdensome strain, and most significantly, devoid of any and all joy. We always knew that life came attached to responsibilities- task upon tedious task- but we didn’t know it would be like— this.  That’s when we decided that something had to change, and this change had to begin with ourselves.

The easiest form of transformation, we figured, was to embrace a new mindset.  This shift wouldn’t require any major upheaval of our lives, it was free, and heck, if we failed, no damage would be done.  And so, we decided to take joy in the elements of life that had once been the source of great pleasure: flowers, rainy days, warm and cozy pajamas.  We took time to truly taste each bite of food, to be more aware of our physical being and our breath, to take precious time for ourselves without feeling guilty about it.  These were the small, simple pieces of life that we began to covet, relish in and enjoy to their fullest extent.  

Now that we found ourselves practicing this mindset, we were beginning to realize that there were so many facets of our lives that we had been experiencing through a mundane world.  When we were driving to work, we weren’t really looking at the way the sun shone in the early morning or that the hills on the sides of the highway had turned green overnight.  When we were spending time with our kids, our minds were wrapped up in our To Do lists. Rather than listening to the quaint ring delightfully present in their laughter, we were stressing about one thing or another.

As we know, flowers progress through stages, all of which are important when considering the life of the plant.  For us though, our greatest pleasure comes when the flower has reached its peak, and is open in bloom, staring up at the sun.  This, in a nutshell, is living life in full bloom. We make the conscious choice to live each day, not drooped over like a dying plant, but with pure love for our families, our friends, and our world, as well as our essential existence within these areas.  We’ve taken four areas of our lives: self-care, parenting, cooking, and housekeeping, and instead of viewing these as tedious file folders in which we place our monotonous tasks and duties, we’ve infused this new mindset into these critical areas.  In doing so, we’ve brought a sense of peace and happiness to our families, our children, our homes, and more importantly, to ourselves. And that, friends, is a task that is most consequential.