"Do Good, Little Lady"

I am not a Mother.  I am a daughter.  So what I am about to say is an opinion as seen through the eyes of child who is now an adult.  So, here goes:

Parents have control of their child's destiny.  Now, obviously, there is some leeway in this situation - as I do not believe that all of the murderers, rapists, and "bad seeds", etc are products of bad parenting, or that, all of the successful children are necessarily the product of good parenting....but ultimately, I believe Parents are key to a child's successful, or I daresay unsuccessful, future.  Clearly, I only have 2 personal examples to plead my case - but - from 27 years of "collecting evidence", I believe it's safe to justify my opinion.  

Let's start with my Mom.  Honestly, I've just always wanted to be like her.  She's beautiful, kind, passionate, loving, friendly, cheerful, strong, supportive - a true Woman's Woman.  She always guided me in the right direction, but never forced me to 'believe' a certain way.  I watched her go to work Every. Single. Day.  and I watched her refuse to call in sick, even when she was sick and even though she had 900 sick days - because that is who she is.  She Loves with every fiber of her being.  She LOVES my Dad.  She LOVES us kids--and most importantly, we all know it.

Then there's my Dad.  Unfortunately, we lost my Dad a few months ago - even as I type, tears are streaming down my face, because he was such a great Dad.  He was intelligent, smart, loving, loyal, kind, gentle.  My Dad had an opinion about Everything, yet when it came to decisions we made in our lives, even if it was a "Sausage" decision (as my dad would call it), he was always supportive.  One thing that sticks out in my mind is how much he loved us.  Every single day of my life I can remember him telling me the exact same phrase before I'd leave the house - whether for grade school, high school, college, or work - he'd ALWAYS say, "I Love You.  Do Good, Little Lady.  Have a Good Day."   I got to hear those words Every. Day.

I don't know about you, but growing up with so much love and having such great examples set before me - All I want to do is make them proud.  I wouldn't say that My brother's and I are the most successful people by the world's standards, but we all work hard, love our family, help people, obey the laws, and overall just enjoy life.  We owe it all to Mom and Dad.  

Justifiably Julie

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Growing Up and Growing Better...

While driving to work the other day, an *Nsync song began play on the radio - it instantly brought me back to age 12 when I went to see them in concert.  I slow danced with my cousin to "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time on You" and belted out "Tearin' Up My Heart" at the top of my lungs with 15,000 other pre-teen girls who were madly in love with Justin Timberlake.  (For the record, normally, I wouldn't have allowed anyone to hit on my man, Justin, but I felt bad for all those girls because I just KNEW that the moment our eyes met, Justin would leave all those girls heartbroken and we would be together forever.)  It was seriously one of the funnest times I had experienced up until that point.

So as my jovial reminiscing faded, I was left sitting behind my steering wheel, fully clothed in "grown-up garb", with a blank stare and dopey smile on my face.  I quickly became aware of my surroundings just in time to make awkward eye-contact with the handsome gentlemen in the car next to me.  In order to save face, I gave him the 'ole  half-wave, looked forward and continued my trip, hoping not to get stuck at another red-light next to him.  That's when it hit me - I am officially a grown up.  I don't know why it hit me at that moment, maybe it's because my 12 year-old self wouldn't have let her insecurities get the best of her like that.  OR, maybe it's because I realized that the one-time man of my dreams was now way less appealing (to my grown-up self) and married to a gorgeous actress.  No, scratch that, it's definitely the first one.  

My point is this:  Sometimes when we move forward in life by choice or chance - whether in age, career, location, relationships - we unintentionally leave good parts of ourselves behind (i.e. my confidence level).  I want to set a goal for myself that, no matter what situation from which I move away, that I not only maintain the qualities I brought into the situation, but enhance them and continue to grow as time goes on.  Who'd a thought this could all come from hearing "Bye, Bye, Bye" on the radio?  

Until Next time!

Justifiably Julie

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Justifiably....me?

My amazing, beautiful mother, Darlene, recently challenged me to start my own blog.  She is going through the same process herself and it has already been very therapeutic.  However, The thought of creating a blog filled with my mind's words is scary.  I mean, seriously,  what do I really want to say?  and what do I want to accomplish? Then, my mind led me to that age-old question:

Who am I? 

Upon pondering this very question, my simplistic thought process went as follows: 

I am silly.  I am funny.  I am dorky.  I am weird.  I am quiet.  I am goofy.  I am tall.  I am shy.  I am crazy.  I am boring.  I am strange.  I am interesting.  I am awkward.  I am musical.  I am kind.  I am skeptical.  I am naive.  I am smart.  I am difficult.  I am simple.  I am annoying.  I am generous. I am selfish.  I am scared. I am caring.  I am lonely.  I am happy.  I am emotional.  I am motivated. I am pleasant.  I am lax. I am determined.  I am sensitive.  I am calm.  I am careful. I am forgetful.  I am clumsy.  I am old-fashioned.  I am messy.  I am neat. I am gifted.  I am important. I am loving. I am clever. I am odd. I am witty.  I am fun. I am serious.

You see, admittedly, I am a lot of things - some good, some bad, some even contradictory to others - but after thinking about some of the adjectives that very basically sum up who I am on paper, I realize that, as a woman who is eager to please those around me, I face an inward struggle to be what everyone else wants me to be.  Now, I have the chance to say what I want, with no qualms of judgement; Therefore,  I've decided what I want to accomplish with this blog, and it is this: 

 I'm Just Going To Be Me.  

Justifiably Me.  

Justifiably Julie.

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