“Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” Gladys Browyn

It’s been a lovely few days for some reason I can’t quite pinpoint, but perhaps it’s because I feel like I am growing.

I often joke with E’s therapists how she tends to plateau and then all of a sudden she will do 3 new things at once.  Perhaps, I am going through my own growth spurt.

How am I growing? Well, let me explain. I realize this will come as a shock to some of you, but I haven’t really ever been good about sharing my feelings. I tend to bottle and then harbor and then communicate only bits and pieces of what I am feeling. Leaving me mildly satisfied and slightly resentful at times.  Except here. Here I am shockingly honest, even surprising myself. As I process this, I think it must come from always trying to be strong, to not let vulnerabilities become cracks in the foundation where the house comes tumbling down. Now, 8 months into my blogging career, I am finding strength in sharing and being vulnerable.

This is perhaps my goose in a bottle. My vulnerabilities have become my strengths. Strength allowing me to more clearly say and articulate to KSP, my family and myself how  I feel and why I feel it.  Thus freeing me from the sense of dissatisfaction and resentment.

If you had a goose in a bottle and you couldn’t break the bottle, how would you get it out?

On Sunday, I was given a lovely gift by a fellow blogger/virtual friend who I very much admire in her own writings, The Lucky Mom.  She showed up on my blog and surprised me with the Versatile Blogger Award.  It was totally unexpected and yet so pleasing to be thought of at all, and to be thought of as “Versatile.” Being Versatile, allows me to think about things, all things  in a myriad of ways and not get trapped by one way to get that goose out of the bottle. That something that I used to see as a negative or even a detriment to my being, can now be the rope I use to pull myself upward and onward.

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So today, I celebrate my award and getting my goose out of it’s bottle.

In the spirit of the award and my newly freed goose, I must follow these rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:

 1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.

4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

7 Things About Me

1.  I did not fly or ski for the first time until I was 17. I have now traveled all over the world and skiied, albeit not gracefully, on some of the hardest mountains in the US.

2. I am the oldest of 4 girls…yep, 3 sisters.

3. My middle name, Marchelle,  is my mom’s first name. Her middle name is Grace, her mom’s name (my Grandma). And E’s middle name is Grace in honor of my grandma and Scott’s grandma, both named Grace.

4. I speak Japanese. It was my major in college and I lived there for 2 years after college teaching English ( I had never been to Japan before I landed there to live.)

5. I have 7 friends from childhood who I still talk to all the time and see once a year, we are coined “The Great 8.” They are my Ya Yas.

6.  I secretly want to be a singer but am only good enough for living room sing alongs, Karaoke Bars and the shower.

7.  My first job was as a hostess in a restaurant at 14, The Golden Skillet, and I subsequently worked in restaurants for 7 years after, paid for college as a waitress and met my first husband who was my manager.

The rest you know or have and will come to know as you spend time with me on this journey. This is the me that brought me here to this day.  To my Q and E, my KSP, my family, friends, and now all of you.

I want to be anything but silently grateful for this award.  L/THE LUCKY MOM, thank you! I am honored and so very excited you bestowed this award on me. You have truly made today, ‘mynewfavoriteday.’

And for all of you, “How would get your goose out of the bottle?”