Lessons from Glinda the Good Witch

Dorothy: Oh will you help me? Can you help me?
Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas. You've had it all along.
Dorothy: I have?
The Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
The Tin Man: What have you learned, Dorothy?
Dorothy: Well, I - I think that it - it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em - and it's that - if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!"
Glinda: Home is a place we all must find, child. It's not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we're always home, anywhere.

I think that I have spent a lot of my life searching. Wondering if I made some change, would that make me more who I am, or happier. Don't get my wrong, I wasn't depressed or miserable, but I think its a quest we are all constantly on. Wanting something different, dreaming of a better house, better job, more money, owning our own business... its different for everyone. Whatever it is for you, I am sure you can relate.

For me, one of the greatest things about becoming a mother is that I have stopped searching. I mean I still have dreams, I still want to accomplish the same goals I had before, but the urgency is gone. Its ok to take life one day at a time, its ok for life to slow down... as a matter of fact I find myself wishing life would slow down even more. I've never before really just wanted time to stop right in its tracks until motherhood.

I love watching the baby grow and learn new things. But at the same time I don't want him to grow at all, I want him to stay a baby forever. Its kind of like when you get a puppy and then a year or two later, you want a puppy again. Something about having something so little and cute that is totally reliant on you... except as much as you love your puppy its about 100x more when its your child.

So far motherhood has brought me full circle. I've lived in the same neighborhood almost my entire life and have spent the last five years here daydreaming about moving back to the beach. I felt like the beach was where my heart really was. Every time I was there I just felt so at peace and more myself. If it wasn't for my husband, I probably would be living there now.

But now, with Dylan in my life, I realized something wonderful. That need to make a change, live at the beach... searching to constantly up the anti on my happiness meter... it was put to rest as soon as I had the baby. Everything just fell right into place and I had a whole new perspective on life. Within a matter of seconds, holding my baby for the first time I was more at peace with my life than I ever have been. All of the pieces just fit.

My life became much clearer and I realized how blessed I am to have the life I do. My family and Jons family - right down the street, there to help with the baby. Surrounded by friends I have known and loved my entire life, all only a phone call away. Living in a town that I have grown up in, know the ins and outs of just about everywhere. Life had been pretty good to me and now its only gotten better.

My home, my happiness and peace is upstairs sleeping in his nursery right now. And as Dorthy would say, if I ever feel the need to go searching for my hearts desire again, I just need to look in my own backyard... or in my case... the room across the hall.