Hi, friend!  I hope you had a peaceful weekend and enjoyed some quality time with your loved ones. ❤️🤍💙

Our neighborhood gets really into fireworks, and you can hear them going off pretty much every night from late-June through mid-July.  But on July 4th, you can hear and see them going off (in the words of Lionel Ritchie) all night long.

We’ve nicknamed it “scary boom boom nightmare day” because we have to vest up our dogs in their Thunder Shirts and blast some box fans for some loud white noise to keep them calm.

We had a pretty quiet(ish) 4th, overall.  It was just my husband, our kids, and I at home.  We grilled a yummy dinner outside and then watched a beautiful, free fireworks show from our front yard (thanks, neighbors!).  It was exactly what we needed it to be this year.

I hope you had a good weekend and that your week is off to a good start.  I wanted to share something sweet that I received in the mail last week.

I was having a day last Thursday — you know, the kind where you basically feel like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster?  Yep.  That kind of day.

I went out to my mailbox that afternoon and saw an envelope addressed to me, opened it, and saw this hand-drawn sweetness from my friend’s daughter:

I sent her a text to say thank you and let her know that I’d received it — that it was exactly what I needed that day.  She replied, letting me know that her daughter did that all on her own.  She hadn’t asked her to draw or send anything to anyone — but earlier in the week, she’d had a little prompting to draw a beautiful rainbow, tell me she loves me, and send it in the mail.

I’ve been seeing rainbows everywhere lately, and they’re giving me so much hope.  The past few months have been rough on everyone.  For me, cycling through the grief stages on repeat makes it all feel extra heavy sometimes.  But this sweet little rainbow, hand drawn by a tiny person that I simply adore?  It fills my aching heart with joy every time I look at it (I taped it to the wall in my craft room/office).

Anyway, friend — I hope this inspires you to send someone a little sunshine (or a little rainbow) in the mail this week.  They probably need it more than you know.

Sending lots of love!  Be well! 💛🌈✨