Help! I only have Nine months to deliver 50!

As women and mothers, we know, either through personal experience or by witnessing someone else, the immense joy that comes from carrying a life inside us. Whether through surrogacy, adoption, foster care, close family, friends, or even watching a neighbor or coworker, we all have experienced birth. The point I’m attempting to make is that we, as women, know all too well the joys, highs, and even lows of carrying and delivering life. We know that there is a tremendous undertaking that birth or adoption can yield. Delivery, without a doubt, is a privilege. For me, It was a privilege, howbeit painful, but nonetheless, a great privilege to give birth to my three babies: two live births and one miscarriage, which occurred between the births of my oldest and my youngest child. 

Birth is painful. Whether physical, spiritual or metaphorically speaking-birth hurts. So today, I am speaking metaphorically and announcing my Delivering 50 series, which I will share with you here on my blog and on my Call Me Camille Podcast. I will share my personal journey toward 50 and my one-year postpartum 50s delivery journal entries. I promise to be as truthful and transparent as possible. Delivery will hurt, and the pain of healing after delivery is slow. However, the pain will birth the joy of a new life through a new chapter in life. And the patience needed after delivery to heal will produce an abundance of perseverance. I will document the highs and lows. The raw emotions felt as I marched toward 50, delivering the best version of me yet. From its conception to each month and trimester of emotional occurrences, I will document vlogs and speak of challenges on my blog and podcast. The due date is October 27th, my 50th birthday. 

Please walk with me and witness Delivering 50 in action—a time of humorous reflection, mindful and relevant content, motivation, and inspiration. Delivering  50 will also boast many interactive polls and questions cordially, in humility, and always in love. Stay tuned!

Welcome to my blog! I’m so glad you are here, and I welcome you to take this journey with me. Saying goodbye to 2021 was surprisingly more emotional than I could have imagined. 2021 was a year of tremendous loss as well as a year of great celebration. 

The Celebration

Celebrating my daughter’s (the baby of the family) graduation from high school was amazing! The fact that my husband and I raised two pretty awesome kids and prayerfully got them through high school without any significant issues was definitely worth celebrating. I guess under normal non-worldwide pandemic circumstances; we would be entering our empty nester phase. However, this pandemic has adjusted things a bit in our household. Our oldest is in law school, virtually at home with us. Our youngest has decided to forgo her path to playing D1 volleyball (where she graciously turned down over eight D1 offers) to pursue her new passion, tennis. Tennis training and building her business while continuing to build her brand as a content creator and influencer while finishing her college studies online keeps her busy. Both of my young adult children are home, but both are very independent and doing their own thing. that said, I have a nest that’s empty most times -but not really. I would likely state, in relationship terms, that “It’s complicated.” My complicated empty but not empty nest. Yup, that’s it. 

The Loss

Now for the loss of 2021. Since the loss of my mother in March 2021, I honestly don’t think I sat still enough to really grieve the loss I suffered. That is, until saying goodbye to 2021. Saying goodbye to 2021 hurt me severely, which surprised me. It brought on a wave of emotions as, for the first time, I was saying goodbye to the year in which my sweet mama went home to be with the Lord. That year-end closure closed a chapter in my book of life that I really didn’t want to close, and man, did that ever hurt. I’ll address and talk more about dealing with grief and the new empty nest mindset in a future post, but for now, just know that you will have to deal with me for a bit as I navigate this new normal. 

My promise to you all

I promise to speak the truth cordially and as transparent, openly, and honestly as I most possibly can. I pray you will journey with me and join me by interacting on this blog. Let’s learn and grow together. Welcome, my friends, to 2022! I have zero expectations, must prayerfully resist the urge to be apprehensive of what’s to come, and practice mental strength as I exercise self-control to keep these emotions of mine under control, but I welcome 2022 nonetheless- let’s do this…. Together.