My niece came home for a surprise weekend visit from college last weekend. My mother was telling me the story of how excited she was that the house was clean and there were cookies baking in the oven. This was a reminder to me not to drag my kids into my chaos. Life is tough enough and when we can create and provide an environment of calm, our kids feel safe. Life is hard these days and HOME has to be the sanctuary we all desperately need. We need a safe place to fall and somewhere we can exhale and be free of judgement and expectations. A place where we look at each other lovingly and speak in a gentle, loving tone. A place where we all feel we are enough for who we are. I pray I will remember these words on the days I am angry and fed up with the nonsense of life. I hope I can find the self restraint to keep unkind words to myself, the mindfulness to enjoy each moment we have together and enough love to fill the emptiness in between until we can all be together again. I pray home will be a place my kids will always look forward to.