Good morning, friends! I hope you had an enjoyable weekend (we did!) and your week is kicking off on the right foot. With college football gearing up to be in full swing later this week, I have a husband who is dancing around the house just pining for the weekend already. Needless to say, it’s going to be a long week for him (and likely for me who he is going to drive a bit loco with the daily countdowns that will likely turn into hourly countdowns shortly!)
Anyway! Every couple of years I like to hop on here and share about the title of this blog and where it came from for some of my new readers, and today I’d also love to share why it’s still so darn fitting.
Right after Hadley was born in November 2013, I had a sudden, strong interest in picking back up with my “on again off again” hobby blog. I’ve always loved to write and record, so I initially created my blog to do just that in May 2008, right after my sophomore year of college. I blabbed inconsistently here and there for a years, turning to my blog to document things like our engagement, wedding planning, and Jamie’s first deployment send-off.
So when I decided to pick blogging back up again after Hadley was born, I set out to do it consistently this time and attempt to make it something a bit more than it was. (And heeeeere we are almost five years later, so turns out I really did stick with it! Ha.)
When I decided to commit, I set out to pick a new name. I hemmed and hawed for weeks, but ultimately stumbled upon Whimsical September.
For some reason, I thought back to a drive I took in September 2013. I was seven months pregnant and driving home to Clarksville, Tennessee from a visit to my parent’s home in Madison, Alabama. Out of nowhere, it struck me how incredibly different my life was than I ever would have guessed the year prior that I would be.
If you would have told me in September 2012 that Jamie would deploy to Afghanistan again in February and that I’d find out I was pregnant eight days later, I would have looked at you like you had three heads. But here I was, navigating an unplanned pregnancy 100% without my husband while he served for the second time in Afghanistan in the first 2.5 years of our marriage.
And you know what? I was so happy. I was so unbelievably happy to be pregnant with a little girl, and even though I missed Jamie like crazy, I knew he’d be home soon and we’d be kicking off a crazy new journey together. I could have never predicted in September 2012 that I’d be where I was in September 2013, but sure enough, I didn’t hate it.
And then my mind started going really bananas, and I started to think “Dang. Every single September for the last 6ish years has looked 180 degrees different (and I really, truly mean completely, shockingly different) than what I planned for and expect it to look like the previous September.” And every single time, it was okay.
So there’s the second half of my blog name: September. The first part, Whimsical, means “subject to unpredictable change”. It also means fun, light-hearted, a bit quirky, and entertaining. Whimsical summed up how I felt about where I was every September: in this fun, kind of odd, completely surprising, but sometimes really neat season of life.
And Whimsical September was born. 🙂
But the joke was on me, because our unpredictable Septembers continued past the naming of this blog in January 2014.
In September 2014, I looked up and was living in Kansas, a place my sister lived but that I never, ever wanted to live. I’d moved twice with my newborn baby (Tennessee to Arizona and Arizona to Kansas) following a Career Course date that was pushed up an entire year. But I was so happy and loved Kansas already. (And we all know how hard I fell for that beautiful state and all the things I think about when I miss it.)
In September 2015, I found myself newly pregnant and helping Jamie pack for his third full deployment. I was miserable about him leaving, but my heart was so full to be carrying a new baby, even though she came about a year earlier than we thought we wanted her. God knew the true desire of my heart.
In September 2016, I found myself in a dark place as I holed up trying to get back on my feet after almost losing Hadley in a drowning accident. It changed parts of my life and who I am/how I operate to this day, so that September was a doozy for me. Obviously never saw that coming.
And in September 2017, I found myself saying goodbye to Jamie once again for a two-month deployment to Poland (which turned into three months) with my sights set on prepping our house to sell and transitioning out of the Army, something we never thought we’d ever, ever do… but that we were beyond confident in doing and ready for. Thank God he didn’t leave me pregnant again. 😉
With September 2018 just right around the corner, I’m finding myself in a place that I dreamed I would be, but was terrified was too good to be true. “He’ll never find the right job, in the right location, making the right money, at the right time… it just won’t happen. So if/when it doesn’t happen, where will we be?” The unknowns scared us. But here we are living out the very, very blurry dreams we started to piece together last September and worked so hard together to achieve.
One of my flaws is that I am more of worrier than I wish I was. I worry about next September. I want to plan it out right now and know that everyone I love will be happy, healthy, and living out “quiet” lives of their own. I want to come back to this space next September and say that the last 12 months were quiet. That’s my prayer.
But if I’ve learned anything the last 10 years, it’s that God already knows where I’ll be next September. He knows the joys we’ll experience and the trials we’ll face between now and then, and no matter where we are next September, it’ll be a piece of the puzzle that was laid out for me at the beginning of time. It’s unreal to me how all of the ups and downs have proven purposeful (notice I didn’t say they were always good or wanted by any means) the last decade or so and lead us to exactly where we are today, a place we would have never arrived at if we would have always had the control.
Let’s chat!
What is something you never, ever saw coming that turned out to be a blessing (or maybe just a necessity on the journey to where you are)?
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo