Happy Mothers Day!

 I don’t have children of my own, but I do have over 50 of the two and four-legged kind! I also have a beau†iful step- daughter, Vanessa, whom I love deeply, and am so very proud of. She's a natural born beauty, wonderful entrepreneur, and has overcome many obstacles to be the lovely young lady that she is.  I am so blessed to have her in my life.

In regard to the fur and feathered children, I am the Mama of the Feathered Mafia, the Vegas 5, The Christmas babies, the Spring Babies, the geese, the cows, the horses, The donkey, the chickens, and of course, to my feathered son, Nugget Fisher. So from one mother to another, I salute you.

 I am rewarded with so much love just for being the mama that it feels like Mother’s Day, everyday. The ranch is such a beautiful and peaceful place, and there are times when I don’t leave the property for weeks at a time. We are 14 miles from the nearest city and since my warehouse and our offices are on the property, there really is no reason for me to leave. But being this isolated, I forget that life can sometimes be a high-risk sport. To hedge our bets, one of the most important things we can do, is stop, and think, for a minute before making decisions. Any decision.

 Much of the time, when something happens that sets us back, it might have been avoidable if we had just taken a moment to think things through. In fact, any stupid thing I have done came as a result of not stopping to think about what could happen, what might happen, and most important of all, could I live with the worst case scenario

This happened to me recently on a personal level, I said something to someone that I should not have. It's one thing to have the thoughts and the feelings, and quite another to let it escape my mouth.   In the counter attack, I found out what the person really thought of me (thanks for the information) and this allowed me to let go of any notion of a friendship because of things that were said during the below-the-belt punching. This was one of the rare cases where the end result of a painful personal learning situation was actually relief, because what I suspected turned out to actually be true, and there was no other way I would have gotten to it except by going “there.”  In this case, at least for me, it turned out to be a blessing. That being said,  the take-away I learned is to keep my thoughts to myself when the question is,"what good can come from it?" and the answer is "Nothing."

The  other takeaway is, It is so important to know who you are so that you will not, and can not be defined by someone else's words. When you know your truth, no one else's truth can become yours. That's personal freedom. 

 But what about the bigger things?

What about the things that can really do injurious and physical harm and can’t be undone?

A good example of this is drinking and driving, which is akin to walking into a crowded mall and firing a gun, blind folded. I have met many people while visiting prisons because of one time that they had a few two many glasses of something at a company party or at home and accidentally killed or maimed someone because they were driving while mentally impaired.

 I rarely drink, (a happy by-product of a hard, early lesson learned as an 18 year old who drank too much one night and got really sick from it) but when I do have an occasional glass of wine, there is no way I would get behind the wheel afterwards, mainly because it just doesn’t make sense. Here’s my rule: “If it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t go.”

 And therein lies the way to make choices that won’t be a disaster. Whether we are choosing a new friend, a new mate, hiring a new employee, or even a caretaker or housekeeper, everything has to line up and make sense. But watch for the behavior to match the words. Listen more than you speak. Listen not for what they are saying, but what they are not saying. Watch for the behavior to match the words and if something they say doesn’t make sense, make a note of it because that is a warning sign. It’s always the little things we ignore that end up being the telltale sign that something would be going haywire.

If operating machinery, you must understand what the machine is capable of doing and if not, it makes no sense to even turn it on until you do.

If making a new friend, watch for the possible loansharking (when someone does things you don’t ask them or want them to do) because in their mind you will be indebted to them and they will make sure you don’t forget it the minute you aren’t behaving the way they want you to.

It’s not only important to be responsible but to surround your inner world with responsible people, grown up people, quality people, who want your highest good and are emotionally intelligent.

Watch for hostage taking, blame shifting, and wanting to take the last bit of you. Anyone who wants the last bit of you is not at all thinking about what you need.

 We must take care of ourselves in this life. It is the difference between happiness and frustration. It is our duty to ourselves so we can be there for life.

This is your one and only life. Hedge your bets and think ahead.

 So what does all this have to do with Mothers Day? Well, nothing.  And..everything.

 Being Motherly brings out our gentle side, our nurturing side, and our most giving side. We tend to mother not only our children, but everyone in our world.. That’s a beautiful thing. But please remember you. Please take care of you, for in case you didn’t know it, you are the most important person in the world, and if you aren’t re-charged every once in a while, you won’t have anything left to give.

Take it from someone who is about to go recharge her own batteries :)

 You are beautiful. Awesome. Special. Loved. An Original.

Most of all, You Matter!

 Love for Sure,

 Cat

PS   Mom, I love you. I think of you every single day and I could not miss you more.