It’s been 14 weeks since we sold our home in Maine and hit the road hoping to find some family fun, warmer weather, a bit of adventure, and a lot of clarity about where we want to live next.

In those 14 weeks, we’ve lived in five different rental houses in five different towns, crossed nine (ten?) states, and encountered adventure, misadventure, a bit of warm weather, and thankfully, exactly the clarity we were looking for.

Which means we’re officially in what I call the messy middle of a big life change. Complete with tears, jitters, heavy discussions, decision fatigue, and raw emotions. But also with stronger relationships, bigger dreams, and intense anticipation. All in the midst of real life, work schedules, school assignments, cooking dinner, and now, the Holiday Season.

I won’t lie ~ it’s kind of a lot. We’re ready for the next part.

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You need to know about this part if you’re a big dreamer. You need to know this part happens to everyone. You need to know that when it gets hard, it’s just the messy middle. Thankfully, I’m here to tell you these things. Thankfully, I have a few tricks up my sleeve because I knew this was coming. I’ve been here many times before. Thankfully, I have some help trying to stay myself through every single bit of this.

These are the 10 phrases keeping me sane right now ⤵

I’ll get there
Show me the way
Middles are messy
It's okay to need help
I don't have to control this
Other people do it; so can we
I'm learning something through this
Isolation ends when I text or call a friend
This is temporary ~ everything is temporary
I need something different in this season & that’s okay

Feel free to use them if you need them.

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This morning I’m writing to you from a hotel room in the town where I went to high school. In just a few minutes I’ll head over to the hospital where my grandmother is in the ICU in critical condition. This wasn’t the plan.

This wasn’t the plan at all.

I was supposed to be visiting her at her house this weekend. She was going to watch my guys fish in her pond. We were going to chat and walk around in the sunshine together. I was going to hug her and tell her I love her and try to put a few pieces back together in our strained, difficult relationship.

Instead, I’ll be holding her hand by her hospital bed, hoping she knows I’m there and trying to figure things out from there.

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Wherever you are this morning, whatever messy middle you might be going through, whatever’s on your mind and in your heart, I hope this little message reminds you that you’re not alone. I hope it lets you know we all have messy middles and we’re all out here depending on each other, despite what it looks like on the interwebs sometimes.

And I hope to be right back here next Friday chatting with you about good books (& maybe some bad ones too ;)

All my love,
Celeste