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@meaganfrancis

I’m this mom and for once, I approve this messag

I’m this mom and for once, I approve this message. thanks to @jody.mace for this hilarious idea and her modest family member for the execution!

big props to my kids for some on-point gifts this

big props to my kids for some on-point gifts this year...including flowers from @stromboli_will, whaaaa? ♥️♥️ Not pictured: the wine I’m sure was their dad’s doing (thanks @jonathandodson) (I already drank it) (was good)

Sometime in my mid-30s, after I'd officially ended

Sometime in my mid-30s, after I'd officially ended burning an extra 800 calories a day via breastfeeding and the effects of a slowing metabolism began to make themselves known, a phrase started going through my head each spring. "Wouldn't it be cool if, on my next birthday, I was in my best shape of my life?" I'd say, just before embarking on some ambitious fitness plan or other.
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Not surprisingly, whatever plan I'd started with generally evaporated in the muggy reality of July, and by the time the 27th - my birthday - rolled around, I'd just sigh and think "Maybe next year."
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Somehow - hello, 2020 - this year I forgot to start planning for my "best shape ever" 7/27. It didn't occur to me until the other day that, amid COVID gym closures and pancake therapy, March and April rolled past without my declaring any fitness ambitions which, let's face it, were typically more about vanity than actual health. I did walk, a ton, usually several miles a day. I kept up a light home yoga practice. And I forgot to think much about my waist size.
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So, alas, I am not celebrating my 43rd birthday in my best physical shape ever. But here's a few things I accomplished in the last 12 months...
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*I faced some fears, embraced adventure, and took myself on an amazing solo camping/hiking trip last summer;
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*I helped my kids ride out the early months of a global pandemic with minimal stress and as much fun and comfort as possible;
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*I kept my business, @lifelistened, afloat in an uncertain time (alongside my partner, the amazing @powersofmine);
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*I decided to stop chasing romance and instead, let love come to me (in various surprising forms);
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*I struggled with big questions about faith and fate and my purpose in life and kept my chin up;
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*And ironically, for reasons not related to my pants size, I started running and can now easily go a mile+ without stopping...something I had not attempted since my teens. No change on the scale. But that no longer seems like the point.
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Hello there, 43! I'd say I'm sorry I didn't greet you in the best shape of my life, but...maybe I actually am, in more ways than one.
🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂

Just a sampling of photos from a magical week with

Just a sampling of photos from a magical week with family camping in the Upper Peninsula. We hiked in the #PorcupineMountains, visited Houghton and the Keewenaw shoreline, oohed and ahh-ed over the trees and cliffs and hills. Kids swam for hours in Lake Superior while the grownups hunted rocks and felt pretty normal for a little while. 10/10 would recommend.

#keewenaw looks good on everyone, even rocks. #upp

#keewenaw looks good on everyone, even rocks. #upperpeninsula #puremichigan

Well worth some steep climbs!

Well worth some steep climbs!

This little guy got an unexpected treat this morni

This little guy got an unexpected treat this morning... #chipmunk #nature #critterlife #puremichigan #michigan #upperpeninsula

Copyright © 2020 · Meagan Francis · Hearten Made ⟡