The Atkinsons

Life Lately.

This past week has been filled with laughter, tears, and lots of contemplation. Currently I am spending some time at my parents home in Seattle, and since I feel so relaxed and free here I felt it was a good time to jot down some of my thoughts.

Last Friday I attended the funeral of my brother-in-laws brother. I didn't know him well, but I went to support my sister whom I am close with and her husband for whom I have deep respect and love. His brother had lost his long battle with depression and mental illness and in the wake left behind his wife and five children. On the tails of the death of Robin Williams I think the world is slowly beginning to understand the damaging effects of the brain turning on itself, but I think no matter what the circumstance it's hard for people to understand things they are not experiencing themselves. Through personal experiences and a lot of deep thought over the years, I myself feel that have come to understand how painful and difficult mental illnesses are and how very real. I've learned how desperately the people plagued with them wish they could somehow fix what they often see as weakness or inability to control their emotions- and how deeply this pains them. Mental illness is so complex, and it's not something that you can measure or put a band aid over, and yet it's real. It's so real.

I think the biggest lesson I have learned, and was strongly reminded of when I attended this funeral, is that as difficult as it is for us to deal with being around someone with these issues it is infinitely more difficult for them to live in their own brains and deal with it themselves. They would give anything to be or feel something different. It's not something they have control over and I think this is an aspect for which we can all try to understand and show compassion, because we all have things in our lives that we can't control. 

To be honest I didn't really want to attend the funeral because I had already been an emotional wreck for most of my pregnancy, and I knew it would be so hard to sit and listen to friends and family speak of a man they loved so dearly and to see pain and anguish on all their faces. And while the tears I shed there left me with a pounding headache, I was also so grateful to have heard about his beautiful life and to be reminded that we are all human and we are all good, and we all struggle. This man was so so good. He deserved to be honored and to have his story told in a way he could not tell it himself. I felt that the mark of his struggle left little in comparison to all the wonderful things he did. It felt good and right to be there, and I left with such a strong desire to see the world and those around me through more sympathetic glasses. We can not know everyone's struggles, but we can be kind to one another. We can try not to be harsh to others who seem harsh to us, we just don't know what people are going through- so be kind and show love and mercy. Forgive of those around you what we would want to be forgiven of yourselves. This is what God hoped for us to do.

The rest of the weekend was filled with festivities and fun because My husband turned the big 3-0. I decided it as an appropriate year to throw him a little shin-dig and invite all his old close friends. Being the typically overzealous person that I am (seriously working on this problem) I made fresh salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo, salad, 2 homemade pizzas from scratch, and two homemade cakes from scratch (whew!) All the food turned out really well, but I don't think the boys needed so much food! (I don't have any pictures of the party because I was was to preoccupied with everything else... typical.) Luckily Greg, kc's brother (who I absolutely adore,) surprised all of us and came into town and we had a big party at his parents the next day and polished off the leftovers! I felt bad we didn't know Greg was coming and were scheduled to come to Seattle a couple days later, but we had some good conversations and quality time together before he left, which I always try to sneak in with Greg when he's around. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately- and I'm sure you'll get an update after we leave Washington! There's always lots of exciting things to share when we get home. :)

I canned my first set of tomatoes, here is the before and after. My mom is an EXPERT canner but I never learned the trade secrets from her so I had my momther-in-law come help! My husband helped a lot too and with the three of us we were a little tomato canning factory with lots of sorting, boiling, peeling, and chopping! It was a success and the second picture is the result! Look at those colorful jars! 

Little Olive gets to open a bag of popcorn on almost every grocery trip! It makes both her and I two happy campers.

And Then I woke up from a nap with this in my living room! Mother-in-laws rock! We rearranged our whole living room to accommodate this new piece of furniture (and I think I am quite happy with it.) Hope Olive like taking piano lessons :)

Spent some time in Heber over labor day weekend. We hit up Swiss days, Olive ran wild with her cousin Callie, we took little walks around a lake and made a big bonfire for smores, and as you can tell from the picture above Olive took lots of advantage of all the treats that were frequently left on the kitchen counters. It was everything a holiday weekend should be.

Olive taking full advantage of Greg. We showed him all her favorite things to do at the library.

Lazy summer days under our favorite tree in our front yard, frequent trips to the aquarium, and a 32 week baby belly shadow. Summer we'll keep drinking in every last drop you give us.