Carrie's Corner

I've often said that I was a  better parent before  I had kids than I have been since  I've had kids.  Parenting is hard.  Bottom line--no frills, no glowing advice or quips--it's hard.  Don't believe me?  Just ask me---I'm a MOM! When I brought that first little one home, I was so overwhelmed.   What do I do?  How do I do it?  Will I get it right?    I was exhausted from lack of sleep and recovering from a C-section and I found myself in tears almost all of the time.  Yet, I had fallen in love with this tiny little creature and couldn't wait to spend time with her.  One was hard.  Yep--you heard me.  One child was hard.  I couldn't imagine having anymore.  She was cute and tiny and precious and I found myself just staring at her in the rare moments that she decided to sleep.  Overwhelming joy was mixed with overwhelming exhaustion and overwhelming fear.   What if she died?  What i...

My husband and I had driven to the top of the falls and parked our car. We walked out onto the footbridge and looked over the edge. It was beautiful watching that entire powerful water cascade down, but somehow, we felt we were missing something. We had passed the path earlier that lead to a stairway. We went back and read the sign. "Difficulty - Strenuous 425 steps". I knew I wasn't in the greatest of shape, but I wanted to see the falls from the bottom up. Hubby and I decided to start down the stairs and if the journey was too difficult, I could always turn around and go back up. I already knew I wasn't going down the whole entire 425 steps, but just a closer look would be great. Down we went, passing people going up who looked as if they were about to pass out. I wondered if I should turn back. We stopped several times on the way down, just admiring the beauty surrounding us and I decided that I had probably pushed things too far and I should turn aro...