How often do you fail forward? Make a mistake (fail) that teaches a lesson (forward). One that you KNOW will stick with you for years to come? 

I had EVERY intention to BLOG about our 10 days of travel. I was on a roll and thoroughly enjoying writing.. Well, typing.. About our time away from home. 

Day 1 of the Cruise went perfectly. What in the world was I so worried about? I was wearing my “motion sick patch”, feeling amazing, wowed by our cabin, the view, the food, the amenities and definitely the staff. It didn't even feel like we were on a ship.

Before leaving, we bought the internet package because Don needed it… and I was thrilled to share my “First Time Cruiser” thoughts with my millions of followers..lol.. Maybe more like a handful of loyal followers?!

Honestly I was just excited to have a place to refer people to when they ask.. “How was the cruise?!”

Night one I wrote the “perfect” blog entry while my feet hovered somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. I wrote for 2 hours, enjoying every second, making sure to capture the excitement of the day but also to connect a lesson and analogy to it. It’s my thing. I love analogies. I read my entry to Don before he went to sleep... so proud of every word. The internet was working perfectly. I even found an old picture to connect the story, hit post and………….. Poof. Gone. All of it. I was certain it couldn’t really be gone. My website software autosaves everything. I let myself be mad for a few minutes then took a deep breath and went to bed. I had all the faith that my husband, the information technology guru would find all of my work in the morning. 

After a very wordy explanation (it’s okay.. He knows he’s wordy) about how every keystroke of mine was bouncing off satellites in space (something like that) it was confirmed that my work was indeed gone.

Good thing my blog is simply for entertainment purposes and I’m not out here saving the world one cute analogy at a time. (Also a good thing that the PXT - Project X Thin I take not only curbs my appetite, it curbs my big emotions too.)

And so without any tears, the Big HUGE Rookie mistake of mine.. writing my blog directly on my autosaving (only with the internet) website instead of using a program directly on my fancy new laptop was one that will stick with me.

• A reminder. No one is perfect. We all have learning to do every day.

Now, being in a phase of life where our nest is empty and our children are adults, I often get asked if I have any parenting advice. I absolutely do.

I wish I had let them fail more. At the little things and the big things. Stepping in and fixing it for them might be what you want to do… you might even think that fixing it is showing your love (I definitely did). Trust me, let them fail, be there to catch them when they fall, discuss how they could have done things differently and cheer them on when they try again.

If you really love them, you’ll teach them how to fail forward. 

If you really love you, you'll let yourself fail forward too.

Until next time..

Your friend Carie (with one r)