WILD + FREE

It’s been a little difficult for me to get back into the swing of things this week.  I guess when you let the mamas loose, we get used to our freedom pretty quickly.  I would love to just do this past weekend again and soak it in a little more.  Wild + Free conference was meant to be a homeschooling conference getaway for tired mamas.  It was.  Although, I don’t think I caught up on sleep or anything wise like that, I did laugh myself into side cramps, meet some of the most genuine, beautiful people, have many deep, enriching, good-for-the-soul conversations, and grew existing relationships into soul sister status.  Sleep? Not much.  But so much more.

I didn’t get a lot of photos, but honestly, does it really matter sometimes? I wanted to focus on being present.  How often do we get to do this?  Sometimes our identity gets so wrapped up in our kids, we need to step out and make sure we know who we are without a diaper bag.  We need to experience a little bit of life without our kids to buffer any awkward radio silence.  This is good and healthy and it grows us.

It was somewhat strange seeing a roomful of 100 people you follow on IG.  We were all squinting a bit trying to place each other off a two inch square on our phones.  It was a little comical at first, but we all got it.  I roomed with the lovely Elana (@birdandtree on IG).  I also got to meet Kate (@stillroomtogrow), a long-time blog friend.  I met new friends like Brittany (@bcdewheeler) who lit up the room with her presence.  And I met people like Tiffany (@thegreygang) who have inspired me daily for a really long time.  It’s a funny thing, this social media friendship thing.  But it is real.  I went away feeling so lucky to have met these women.

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As far as homeschooling, I learned one major thing: this thing that our family started doing seven years ago that was considered pretty nerdy, is growing.  There was a room full of moms that were hungry to learn more about this faux pas that is homeschooling.  Although I don’t feel like I know even a fraction of what there is to know about it, I found myself in many conversations with mamas picking my brain to know more about it.  This thing is growing.  I made the long drive home listening to audio books and planning to myself.  This homeschooling gig is a hard one, but there are families out there–more and more families making the decision to do it.  It’s been my passion for so long and it’s a passion I want to share more of.  I want to use this growing movement for good and share more.  I’m planning and scheming.  There’s new and exciting things coming, I can feel it.  Thank you, Wild + Free, for causing me to make big plans. 

Going away creates extra work of planning and organizing.  The house doesn’t run as well without mama there, but that’s ok.  In the end it’s always worth it.  I’m so glad we all stepped out this weekend.  We’re ready for the next one.