Lessons from the BeTA Retreat... Short and Silly Lessons, Plus One Important Realization

1. My husband really, really, really needs a break from the kids. Like, seriously. He almost never gets a break because I can not handle Little's violent tendencies by myself. The frequency of his violent meltdowns has slowed considerably, but he still gets going every so often, and I'm still not confident in my ability to protect myself and him, and stay calm through the entire episode. Now, I'm not sure how we will accomplish time off for him, but I hope we can figure out a way for him to take a weekend and go do whatever the heck he wants to do.
2. My husband needs to start playing guitar again.
3. Orlando water is NOT awesome.
4. Orlando is NOT very close to the ocean.
5. I seriously need to make an effort to have more female friends.
6. I definitely need to make an effort to have more friends who live near me, who I can see in person and physically hug instead of just commenting on their Facebook posts with a pitiful little thing like ::hugs::
7. Riunite wine is super duper tasty. I'm pretty sure I've said that a bunch of times.
8. I don't care much for baklava.
9. Our bodies absorb and react to trauma, and we can feel a whole lot better by getting treatment through a licensed massage therapist. I just had my first craniosacral massage Thursday and throughly enjoyed it. A lot of the resources on the internet say that type of treatment is "quackery," but even if it is, and I don't believe that it is, it gave me an hour of quiet and relaxation. Can't go wrong with that!
10. I really, really must love the BeTA ladies, because TWICE during my time there I woke up before 10 a.m. on my own volition! And oh, I'm so glad I did because I got to see the sweetest and most elaborate marriage proposal I have ever seen. Okay, it was the only engagement proposal I've ever seen in real life outside of my own (which was super sweet as well - don't get me wrong!). But still, it was very well planned and incredibly moving. I am so thrilled I got to be a part of that.
11. Having boudoir photos taken of me and seeing the edited results has made me realize that I'm still pretty darn sexay.

    

    Bow-chicka-bow-wow! I *totally* want to show everyone my pictures from my photo shoot. However, I realize that over sharing is just NOT appropriate. Also, my mom and in-laws read this blog from time to time, so I figured liberal use of the cropping tool was in order here.

Thanks to this Trauma Mama for the photo shoot! If you live in NE Indiana and are in need of a photographer, check her out at Sheri Rouse Photography!

And, finally, I knew when I left home that I love my kids, but on my trip I realized that I really, really, REALLY love my kids. All of my kids. A lot. And equally. Differently? Sure. Loving kids with attachment disorder is hard work and is different than any other kind of love I've ever experienced. But just because the love I feel for my stepchildren is a little different than the love I feel for Oldest doesn't mean it's not equally overflowing from my heart.

And that's a topic for an entire blog post, coming soon.

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This post is also available at my new website Trauma Mama Drama.  If you enjoy reading my blog, remember to update your feeds, emails and bookmarks with the new link, because eventually I will only post updates on the new site's blog.
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