Author Archives: tracye1

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About tracye1

A wee bit about me, Tracy. Married to my high school sweetie for a looooong time. Mama of 4 beautiful kiddos, now ADULTS!!!! This blog is a potpourri of posts. Some wax on about my Catholic faith, others family, some are just a “diary” of life updates. Life is a journey, taken one day at a time (sometimes one step at a time) and my blog is about my personal trek through life. Peace!

22 Year Celebration

Ok, so I am having a mid-life blog crisis and can’t decide which one I’ll keep…..this one gets more traffic, so I am thinking that for the rare moment these days that I actually DO blog, this might be it.  I’ll deal with that later!

For now, I just wanted to share some of our 22nd Wedding Anniversary celebration.  An entire date DAY.  And dinner.  Alone.  It was great.

We moseyed up A1A to St. Augustine.  Our first stop was at Snack Jack’s on Flagler Beach.  We scored a great table on the screened deck, next to the ocean.  Enormous fish tacos for me and a fried oyster po’boy for my Hubs.  It was a good start!!

Lunch

Lunch @ Snack Jack’s in Flagler

A little further up the road to Washington Oaks State Park to walk on the rocks on the beach and then explore the gardens and the river view.  I tell you that was SOME gift of Owen Young to his bride, Louise!!  Truly a beautiful park and I will be working some bribe magic on our kids for a Christmas card picture up there!!

Matanzas (2)

The Rocks

Matanzas (1)

Matanzas view from the Young’s winter home

In St. Augustine, we strolled the streets, window shopped, had a gelato (me), smoothie (Hubs) and water.  Summer is here.  And she isn’t playing.  Lord, help us come August.  No joke!  Checked out the alcove area at Flagler college….WHOA!!!  What a stunning area!

Flagler Rotunda (1)

The Rotunda @ Flagler College

We ended up on our 22nd Anniversary at the Basilica.  Walked through the Holy Door together AND managed to be there for Reconciliation.  With Mass this a.m. it looks like we completed our first Mercy indulgences on a total fluke.  Or was it?  You know, God has little surprises for us that aren’t even on our radar and then it’s just mind-blowing.  So it was with this.  (We had already planned on a road trip later this year to the Shrine in Orlando to walk through the Holy Door there.  We still plan to, but what a beautiful gift.  On our anniversary.)  His Mercies are never-ending.

#HolyDoorSelfie (1)

But first….let me take a #HolyDoorSelfie

A little coffee for the road.

#HolyDoorSelfie (2)

A little dinner at Mama’s favorite restaurant.

Flagler Rotunda (2)

22 looks good, ya’ll.  22 looks real good!

Simplifying

Sometimes that looks like removing Facebook from your phone.   Game changer. People. Seriously. 

 I still receive messages and I can access on my laptop but I can honestly say, life is good.  No longer bombarded by lost pets, daily drama that should be privatized (IMO), and  relentless ads for stuff I’ve already purchased. 

It feels good to control my circus and to limit outside monkeys from stealing my joy and interrupting my peace. 

As we are learning to tell our money what to do instead of vice versa, I am learning to tell my social media what it will do for me. The peace is immediately gratifying. 

Simplify. It is a breath of fresh air. 

In the works…

While I plug away on my new blog (hopefully ready to roll out next week), I just have to ask:  “Have you been watching the Pope?!?!?!?!?”  I am so fascinated.  It started with his virtual audience around the U.S. in which I used a ridiculous amount of tissues.  His compassion is so genuine and his message of LOVE so pervasive in every homily, every action, it is easy to see why the whole world is falling in love with Papa Francis.

So, it was really cool to see my new friend Maria pilgrimage to Cuba (her birthplace) to see the Pope and now watching Pat and Lisa pilgrimage to Philly and EWTN at night to catch the recap of the day.  It is FASCINATING!!!

The icing on the cake was when a good friend and fallen away Catholic texted me throughout the day as she watched the Pope and how her faith is restored in the Church due to Pope Francis’ example of love and kindness throughout the world.

Just awesome.  Fascinating.  And so much hope.  Godspeed, Papa!  May we all live this example.  Love one another.

and Pope Emoji App…..so much awesome!!