The New Normal

A few weeks ago, I emailed a mom who had lost her 17-year-old son in a car accident. He was one of my son's golf buddies, and we wanted their family to know we were praying for them. In her reply, she said, "Friends, please bear with us, as we are all striving to find the new normal for our family."

I had never heard this statement before, but I've thought about it alot since then. This year we have had many changes in our family: In March, we tragically lost my beloved father-in-law, Wayne Hawkins. He was the patriarch of the Hawkins family, my husband's best friend, and an extraordinary man. It has been extremely challenging for everyone in our family to develop a "new normal" day-to-day life without him.

In May, Will turned 16 and started driving the streets on his own, and just before all of that, both my brother and dad and their families moved back to our home town. While both of these events are exciting, they bring new adventures to our family life as we know it.

Even as I write this, I think of Amy and Eric (my sister and her husband) who have recently gone through many life changes as well. Because of their recent move from Austin to Atlanta, Amy is able to go on a golf tournament trip with Will and me next week! We are all very excited about it because we've never gotten to do this together....again another "new normal"!

Because the only thing that remains the same is in fact CHANGE, I hope we all will look at change with optimistic eyes. I love the memories we have of Wayne and the fact that we got to share life with him for so many years; I love watching my son grow up and become a young gentleman; and I love having my family close by because they mean the world to me. But when I screw up..................."Friends, bear with me, because I'm always striving to find the "new normal" in my life!"