This is me on my 5th birthday right next to my sister

Today I am 69 years old.

I decided that part of my birthday present to myself would be in looking back when I was 5 years old to see if I have any of the traits she had after all these years. 

I wanted to get to know this younger part of myself since I have three granddaughters about this same age.

It's so important for me to be aware and guide them so that they don’t fall into the same traps as I did.

 This is me at 5.  I look determined and a bit defiant.

It is shocking for me now to see this photo since I grew up with a mother who didn’t tolerate any challenges to her authority and certainly not any sassiness in a little child or anyone for that matter.  

When I look into the eyes of this young girl I wonder, was I really a little spunky? 

So what was going on here?

Was there a moment of posing for the camera with my real true little self before anyone noticed and could...

Greetings from Port Vila, Vanuatu

Most people have never heard of this tropical island in the South Pacific. Vanuatu is an archipelago of about 82 small islands near the Fiji islands.

Vanuatu

I came here to live over 30 years ago when my sons were 3 years old and 6 months. I was excited but nervous to bring little ones here, especially sight unseen. But I trusted my instincts that we would be safe and we were. And for 5 years I was able to call this place my home.

It was one of the best and happiest times of my life.

Now I find myself here again, watching my 3 grandchildren grow up.

In this photo, you can see I am surrounded by my little grandchildren and my beautiful daughter-in-law, Stephanie. 

The little boy who was 3 (Andrew) has come back to live here where he has created a shipping business with tugboats and barges for inter-island business.

Here are my sons in 1988.  Andrew was 5 and Rob was 3. 

The point of this story is that you never know how life will...

These are my 5 grandchildren. Three of them live far away on an island in the Pacific. Our families met up together in March last year in Fiji so I had the pure joy of hanging out with them. It was wild at times because they were all under the age of 4. And I was smiling the entire time. Even now I smile, thinking about that trip. 

Lucky, lucky me. Had I not planned or anticipated this trip, it would not have happened. But I found a way because it was super important to me to be around these 5 cuties.

What I want to ask you is, what fun things do you have planned for yourself this year? What are you planning that will bring you joy? 

Take the leap and decide you're going to choose this to be a great year. Your best year. 

For me, I’m planning on lots of travel and keeping things simpler, spending more time enjoying the people I love.

And being less frenetic than last year.

I was so hyper focused on getting my Ageless Wisdom and Passion online retreat...

 "In every journey or adventure, there will be the unexpected, the low points, the funky stuff that happens. This is true for travel or for life. And there are always lessons to be learned." 

In 2015, my husband and I visited our son and his family in the tiny South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. We were stoked to be so close to an active volcano. The events that happened were, shall we say, a little scary.

It all started a little bit wonky, and it was the beginning of our trip to see the live volcano on Tanna in the South Pacific island of Vanuatu.

That tropical morning, we got off the plane from Efate, the main island of Vanuatu, and arrived by plane an hour later on the island of Tanna. I pulled out my reservation sheet and, for the life of me, could not find the name of the hotel we were booked in. People were everywhere, pushing, shoving, and loading up people and baskets in trucks.

A Ni Vanuatu man ran up to us and grabbed the papers out of my hands. I’m...