Raising Resilience Daily

There’s something uniquely wild about having a kid with a birthday near the holidays. It’s like the universe said, “Hey, you know what this mom needs? A logistical puzzle disguised as a celebration.”

Because suddenly, a simple birthday party becomes a full-blown strategy session:

• Family party or friend party
• Or both
• Or merged
• Or staggered
• Or… wait, what does the hockey schedule say (not just for one kid, but both?)

And that’s before you even get to the nap times, the food decisions, or the eternal question: What parent actually wants cake at 10 a.m.?

This year, our “simple” birthday weekend turned into a mashup of:

• One birthday party
• One hockey game
• Two hockey practices
• One softball practice
• And a partridge in a pear tree (probably)

All happening within hours of each other.

By the time we wrapped up the day, this momma was done. Not “tired.” Not “ready for bed.” I’m talking the kind of exhausted where you sit in your car in the driveway for a minute just to process what your life has become.

And here’s the kicker: the kids go back to school tomorrow after two full weeks off… and somehow, I’m not ready. You’d think two weeks would feel like a break, but we were so busy that it feels like we lived an entire season in fourteen days. We ended on one of our busiest single days of the year, and my brain is still trying to catch up.

But here’s the part that matters.
Here’s the part that keeps me grounded.

My kids are healthy.
They’re happy.
And one of them got to celebrate another year around the sun with his friends—both on and off the ice.

He felt loved.
He felt seen.
He felt celebrated.

And maybe that’s the real win. Not the perfect schedule. Not the perfect party. Not the perfect balance between family and friends and sports and holidays.

The win is that we showed up.
We made it work.
We created memories in the middle of the madness.

This is Raising Resilience Daily.
Not because it’s easy, but because it’s real.
Because sometimes resilience looks like a color-coded calendar… and sometimes it looks like cake before noon.

Raising leaders, chasing goals, and occasionally losing my mind.