Thank you for sharing your tender mama heart and your sweet sweet Nate with us.
I hope you get the summer of underwhelm your heart desires and your mama soul needs.
Enjoy every hands-free, eyes up, white space, hike with the dogs, movie night, sunrise at the lake, open minute and sweet sweet memory you make with your sweet sweet boy.
The sequel will most definitely be stellar: Nate's and yours.
Such a beautiful reflection of motherhood! Brought back some memories for me as we did this three times. It was always bittersweet but rest assured the sequel is just as good! Enjoy your summer with your amazing son Allison! Soak up every moment you can.
I want to read that again and again. I marvel at your kindness, courage and wisdom. Gosh, I just feel so blessed to witness this. I could go on and on .... but mostly, I just want to say Thank You for raising up such a beautiful soul. What an amazing accomplishment and amazing gift to all the world! Blessings to Nate as you send him off! Enjoy every beautiful moment this summer, friend.
I haven’t been reading on this platform for awhile and starting dipping in again. I’m glad your piece came up for me because I’m freaking balling my eyes out on Saturday morning and that’s what my heart needed today… I needed empathy to the max for another mom. Go take your break! I did it last summer and it was everything.
Stephanie I thought of you as I was making this decision. I remember your beautiful call to self and how you trusted exactly what you needed when you slowed down and took your break.
Thanks for reading. I’m so glad my words popped up today. I feel your empathy and your support. Thank you 💕
Allison, this might be your bravest act yet. We need more acts of rebellion to hustle culture, guided by a deep knowing that this, presence with our loved ones, often times matters more. This choice changes the world as much, if not more than our words.
And I believe this time spent together will feed your heart and as a result, your writing we be even better when you come back. The muse rewards pauses and taking care of yourself, at least that has been my truth. Bravo to you, and I hope you have a summer that feeds your soul and your child’s. ❤️ Enjoy! And you have all my respect. 🫡
Priscilla! This comment filled my heart and teared me up. Thank you. 🙏🏼
It does feel like a radical act. To stop doing what I proclaimed I would do - to put things down when the world insists spinning plates is how we get ahead.
I am learning that even the things I love doing (like writing here) zap my energy supply. Writing has felt like it’s saved me these last 15 months so it feels really itchy to push pause. I trust that it’s necessary, though.
Thanks for your words of encouragement. I appreciate you 🩷🙏🏼
What a wonderful gift you are giving yourself and your son, Allison. This is a beautiful love letter to yourself as mom and to him at this vital juncture. I love the little notes he made for your one on one time; what a sweet and thoughtful and sensitive boy you’ve raised. Of course you want to have a front row seat to every moment of his 18th summer. I admire you for listening to your heart, your deepest priorities in life, and taking a break here so that you can be fully there, with him and your whole family. I’ll be right here waiting when you return with your beautiful writing. Until then, enjoy, my friend!
Thank you, Amy. You have been with Dare to Be since the jump and I will surely miss our reflections back and forth. You have a way of pulling more out of me after I push “post”.
Thank you for being a loyal reader and a dear friend. I appreciate your words of support.
Substack has proven to me that you can find deep nourishing friendships and connections with people you have never even met in person. With people across oceans and continents. 💕
Awww, Allison, thank you, you know I feel the same about you. I had hoped this August when I was to be in Rhode Island for a family reunion might have been the occasion for a IRL meeting for the two of us. But alas all travel plans for the summer I cancelled until I am able to ‘sit’ & endure a transatlantic flight. Far from that point still, 3 months into original back injury/issue/slow healing. So I am being called into a slow summer for different reasons. Slowing it down, staying in one place for a whole summer (very hard for me, and highly unusual). But I am in a wonderful place for a summer season, 13-min walk to the Mediterranean Sea, to my daughter’s place, to enjoy her always wonderful company, and my younger daughter and fiancé are coming here end of June for a week, along with a visit from a dear American friend. What a joy to be blessed with loved ones who come to me when I am fixed in place. I am getting accustomed to being held, not always the one who holds. May you also hold and feel held this summer, Allison.💗
This is beautiful! Every word found a place inside me. My son turned 18, school is over in 5 days and we both enter a new phase in our lives. I realise that there are two ways of tracking time. The day to day -things to do, obligations, fleeting moments of happiness- and the helicopter view. The realisation that something big, life changing, is taking place right before my eyes. And, just like you, I want to make the most of it. Enjoy your summer!
What a beautiful reflection, Angeliki. Thanks for sharing it here. What you said makes me think of chronos versus kairos in relation to time. Chronos is the ticking clock, measured in years, months, days, etc., while Kairos is the feeling of being present and engaged, where time seems to stand still or disappear.
I want this summer to be littered with kairos time.
Enjoy your sweet summer with your 18 year old boy and this new phase. 🫶
Oh Allison!! What a sweet tribute to both your son and your motherhood! Enjoy the summer with your young man — my oldest stepson is 14, my oldest bio son is 7 — I can’t believe that I think it’s true that the days are long but the years are short. I so appreciate everything you bring here ❤️🫶 enjoy the most deserved break!
This is beautiful, Allison. It's a really touching and powerful tribute to Nate. He's a lucky guy to have such an incredible mom to guide him. Enjoy the summer and soak up all the moments!!
Allison.
Thank you for sharing your tender mama heart and your sweet sweet Nate with us.
I hope you get the summer of underwhelm your heart desires and your mama soul needs.
Enjoy every hands-free, eyes up, white space, hike with the dogs, movie night, sunrise at the lake, open minute and sweet sweet memory you make with your sweet sweet boy.
The sequel will most definitely be stellar: Nate's and yours.
This made me tear up in the most beautiful way. Thank you Rosemary 💕
Such a beautiful reflection of motherhood! Brought back some memories for me as we did this three times. It was always bittersweet but rest assured the sequel is just as good! Enjoy your summer with your amazing son Allison! Soak up every moment you can.
Thanks Rob. It helps hearing from those that have gone through this before. Bittersweet is the exact feeling of it all.
Dear friend,
I want to read that again and again. I marvel at your kindness, courage and wisdom. Gosh, I just feel so blessed to witness this. I could go on and on .... but mostly, I just want to say Thank You for raising up such a beautiful soul. What an amazing accomplishment and amazing gift to all the world! Blessings to Nate as you send him off! Enjoy every beautiful moment this summer, friend.
xoxoxo
Thank you for this note, Judy. I deeply appreciate it and appreciate YOU.
I haven’t been reading on this platform for awhile and starting dipping in again. I’m glad your piece came up for me because I’m freaking balling my eyes out on Saturday morning and that’s what my heart needed today… I needed empathy to the max for another mom. Go take your break! I did it last summer and it was everything.
Stephanie I thought of you as I was making this decision. I remember your beautiful call to self and how you trusted exactly what you needed when you slowed down and took your break.
Thanks for reading. I’m so glad my words popped up today. I feel your empathy and your support. Thank you 💕
Allison, this might be your bravest act yet. We need more acts of rebellion to hustle culture, guided by a deep knowing that this, presence with our loved ones, often times matters more. This choice changes the world as much, if not more than our words.
And I believe this time spent together will feed your heart and as a result, your writing we be even better when you come back. The muse rewards pauses and taking care of yourself, at least that has been my truth. Bravo to you, and I hope you have a summer that feeds your soul and your child’s. ❤️ Enjoy! And you have all my respect. 🫡
Priscilla! This comment filled my heart and teared me up. Thank you. 🙏🏼
It does feel like a radical act. To stop doing what I proclaimed I would do - to put things down when the world insists spinning plates is how we get ahead.
I am learning that even the things I love doing (like writing here) zap my energy supply. Writing has felt like it’s saved me these last 15 months so it feels really itchy to push pause. I trust that it’s necessary, though.
Thanks for your words of encouragement. I appreciate you 🩷🙏🏼
What a wonderful gift you are giving yourself and your son, Allison. This is a beautiful love letter to yourself as mom and to him at this vital juncture. I love the little notes he made for your one on one time; what a sweet and thoughtful and sensitive boy you’ve raised. Of course you want to have a front row seat to every moment of his 18th summer. I admire you for listening to your heart, your deepest priorities in life, and taking a break here so that you can be fully there, with him and your whole family. I’ll be right here waiting when you return with your beautiful writing. Until then, enjoy, my friend!
Thank you, Amy. You have been with Dare to Be since the jump and I will surely miss our reflections back and forth. You have a way of pulling more out of me after I push “post”.
Thank you for being a loyal reader and a dear friend. I appreciate your words of support.
Substack has proven to me that you can find deep nourishing friendships and connections with people you have never even met in person. With people across oceans and continents. 💕
Awww, Allison, thank you, you know I feel the same about you. I had hoped this August when I was to be in Rhode Island for a family reunion might have been the occasion for a IRL meeting for the two of us. But alas all travel plans for the summer I cancelled until I am able to ‘sit’ & endure a transatlantic flight. Far from that point still, 3 months into original back injury/issue/slow healing. So I am being called into a slow summer for different reasons. Slowing it down, staying in one place for a whole summer (very hard for me, and highly unusual). But I am in a wonderful place for a summer season, 13-min walk to the Mediterranean Sea, to my daughter’s place, to enjoy her always wonderful company, and my younger daughter and fiancé are coming here end of June for a week, along with a visit from a dear American friend. What a joy to be blessed with loved ones who come to me when I am fixed in place. I am getting accustomed to being held, not always the one who holds. May you also hold and feel held this summer, Allison.💗
Wishing you a summer filled with healing, fresh Mediterranean air and sweet company. One day you and I will truly meet.
This is beautiful! Every word found a place inside me. My son turned 18, school is over in 5 days and we both enter a new phase in our lives. I realise that there are two ways of tracking time. The day to day -things to do, obligations, fleeting moments of happiness- and the helicopter view. The realisation that something big, life changing, is taking place right before my eyes. And, just like you, I want to make the most of it. Enjoy your summer!
What a beautiful reflection, Angeliki. Thanks for sharing it here. What you said makes me think of chronos versus kairos in relation to time. Chronos is the ticking clock, measured in years, months, days, etc., while Kairos is the feeling of being present and engaged, where time seems to stand still or disappear.
I want this summer to be littered with kairos time.
Enjoy your sweet summer with your 18 year old boy and this new phase. 🫶
Love this reminder of chronos and kairos time. 💗
Oh Allison!! What a sweet tribute to both your son and your motherhood! Enjoy the summer with your young man — my oldest stepson is 14, my oldest bio son is 7 — I can’t believe that I think it’s true that the days are long but the years are short. I so appreciate everything you bring here ❤️🫶 enjoy the most deserved break!
I always agreed with that saying - the days are long but oh the years, so short.
Thanks for this sweet note. Your boys are in that sweet spot, particularly the 7 yo. I love that age!
Happy summer to you and yours, Kristen. I appreciate you!
This is beautiful, Allison. It's a really touching and powerful tribute to Nate. He's a lucky guy to have such an incredible mom to guide him. Enjoy the summer and soak up all the moments!!
Thanks Wendy! I appreciate this note. Happy summer to you, too! Enjoy all the beauty VT living has to offer.