The Chronicles of Brenden and Cali

"Falling in love is easy, staying in love is hard" I often get asked for dating advice. And while I'm never shy about giving it, I always end it with "of course, I'm 33, divorced and single....so I may not be the best person to ask". Maybe I'm right, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but maybe, just maybe, I'm on to something here. "Love is a cycle: When you love, you get hurt. When you hurt, you hate. When you hate, you try to forget. When you try to forget, you start missing. And when you start missing, you eventually fall in love again." I'm 33. I've had high school sweethearts, college boyfriends, gotten married and divorced, and started dating all over again. And in that time, I've dated, I've fallen in love, I've pushed great guys away, I've ran, I've stopped believing in fairy tale endings, and fallen in love with the idea of falling in love all over again. That's what we do is...

“Things are as they are, we suffer because we imagined different” I attribute all of my life lessons and moments of clarity to my children. Throughout our shared journey in life, they teach and enlighten me daily. Never does a day go by where something doesn’t happen that brings joy and a deeper understanding of what matters most in life. Children are amazing that way. They live each day with such freedom. They don’t hide who they are, they aren’t ashamed of their unique qualities, they are tremendously honest, and undeniably full of innocence. In truth, they live each day of their lives the way that we as adults strive to but somehow forgot how to along the way. “ When you learn to accept instead of expect, you have fewer disappointments”  I have 2 friends that I see often, we get together a few times a week, cook, laugh, dance, watch movies, and basically just enjoy life. What I love most about my friends, is their zest for life. They choose to be happy and to live, a...

" The only way love can last a lifetime is if it is unconditional" For those of you that read my blog.....despite the large time gaps in between posts....you already know a bit about me. For everyone else.....which is about 99.99% of the human population, let me re-introduce myself. My name is Charlene, I'm 32...until next week, I'm a single mom, I have two special needs kids that mean everything to me, I've lived all over the world, moved every 1.5 to 2 years since I was 13, I work full time, I'm in the process of going back to school to get my Bachelors degree, and I'm also in the process of buying my first house. I'm not highly intelligent, overly gifted in any particular talent, a supermodel, or anyone that will go down in history for accomplishing something great. I am simply, perfectly average me, and I absolutely love who I am. "Worry about loving yourself instead of loving the idea of other people loving you"  Before you thin...

*This post isn't motivational, humorous or uplifting. But I needed to get my feelings out. If this serves no purpose but that, I will have succeeded. However if there are other parents out there who have gone through or are still going through similar experiences, I hope it helps to know that you aren't alone. I welcome any and all feedback.  It's always sudden, out of nowhere, and when you least expect it. You never think it's going to happen to you, and you're never prepared for it.  " There is no pain greater than to be helpless in the face of a loved ones suffering." On September 25, 2017 at 6:52 pm, my daughter Cali started having a seizure. She had continuous seizures until 9:15pm with the longest one lasting over 45 minutes. The doctors and nurses were constantly working to try and stop the seizure but it just kept going. It's amazing what that kind of adrenaline does to a parent. I remember sitting on the side of her bed, holding her...

"She builds others up because she knows what it's like to be torn down." How many times a day do we use the words I, fair, mine, right, etc.? How many times a day are we annoyed, offended, irritated? And how much energy do we waste on those feelings every day, or yet, how much of that negative energy to we transfer to those we come in contact with? Think about it, it takes just a second from your mood to go from happy to irritated, annoyed, angry. Just a second, something as simple as a dirty look, getting cut off in traffic, having your mail shoved into your mailbox, etc. Now granted, we're all human and it's normal to get bugged. The problem with that, is how long we hold onto those feelings and how many people we transfer them to.  "Be the type of person that makes everyone you come across feel perfectly okay with being exactly who they are." I live in a place that is known to be fairly "sheltered". I didn't grow up here, in...

" Oh my darling it's true. Beautiful things have dents and scratches too." For the most part, my posts are meant to help, to be informative, fun, something you can relate to. This one is no different. While having special needs kids is amazing, often hilarious because of the things they get into, and such a lesson all the time, it's also hard as hell. I'm used to the reactions I get when people find out that both of my kids have ASD, I recite, in my head, the questions they will ask next even before they open their mouths, I've mastered my replies. For years I would simply respond with "Having ASD kids is all I've know, or nah it's not too hard, or they are such a blessing." For some reason, I felt obligated to be reassuring in my responses, upbeat, nonchalant, like I had to ease their concern. I was afraid of looking like a bad mother, or being judged. So I put on a brave face, smiled through the questions, and did my best to conv...