Hi! I’m Susan. Welcome to my blog. It’s a place to share my journey into motherhood and myself. No one mentioned one particular thing that I’ve learned when you have a baby later in life: that going from pregnancy to having a baby with reflux who doesn’t sleep well, to dealing with a toddler (who ends up having sensory integration issues, and doesn’t sleep well), to perimenopause with all it’s hormonal shifts, is enough to put a woman into the looney bin! Instead of ending up completely crazy, I have managed to eat my stresses until I am big as a barrel. Join me as I try to figure it all out, as best as I can. Along the way, I will share websites and articles that I have found helpful. One of my favorite quotes from Maya Angelou is, “When you know better, you do better.” Here’s to learning how to do it better.
6/2/15- It’s been five years since I started this blog. In that time my Little Man has grown quite a bit (he’s now 12). The puzzle that is him, has more and more pieces in place (he wears more diagnoses). I buried both my parents, and my life has changed quite a bit thanks to having a spiritual awakening just over 4 years ago. These days, my personal life is about healing and tuning into my intuition, having studied healing modalities and taken classes to help me recognize how I receive intuition. I now know that if I am not happy with something in my life, I can change it for the better (and often in a moment). One thing that has most definitely not changed is my love of photography. I’ve been snapping away for 40 years now.
My e-mail contact is mariner2mother@wavecable.com.
Life Is a Journey... Not a Guided Tour 
I am so happy to have visited your blog. I have been going down the path to holistic health most of my life. I am curious about the energy therapy you write about. I am currently taking Reiki courses and hope to be certified as a practioner one day. I truly believe in the mind-body connection and have found myself going down a spiritual path. Also, I love your photos, just gorgeous. I used to live in Olympia, WA and I miss it. I have a little photo site http://fireflyphoto.weebly.com/index.html
I look foward to visiting you blog more often!
I am honoured to nominate you for the One Lovely Blog Award! Please pick-up your award at http://parasharstales.wordpress.com/. Copy and Paste the Award to your blog and follow the rules of acceptance. I am very aware that some people do not wish to participate in Awards, and I completely respect that… no strings! But in any case, Congratulations, you have a Lovely Blog
Thank you so much for the nomination. I am honored. Right now life is a bit crazy to follow all the rules required to accept the One Lovely Blog Award; but perhaps in the fall when things slow down this may change.
I’d like to introduce you to Voices of Sensory Processing Disorder. This is a community website where bloggers can share their experiences, victories, tips and everyday challenges with others about sensory issues. And we want you! We’d love to share your writing. To learn more, please visit http://www.voicesofsensoryprocessingdisorder.com. I hope you’ll join us!
Happy blogging,
Jennifer Hughes
Voices of Sensory Processing Disorder
Thanks Jennifer. Great idea for sharing stories. Much like the SPD Blogger. The more, the merrier!
Thanks for commenting and your support of Tangerine Tango! If this one does well, I hope to do another, support another charity and invite lots more writers– so stay tuned!
Hey there. Can you email me? I seem to have lost your email address (got a new laptop) and I have to tell you something you’ll find fascinating! Thanks!
Yes, let’s do it better, together.
Hi Susan! Thank you for visiting my blog. I love what I’ve read here so far and it seems we have a lot in common. Looking forward to reading more of your stuff.
Lots of love,
Cheryl
Susan, as the parent of an autistic son, I truly appreciate what you’re doing here. Thank you for stopping by my blog — it led me here 😉
Glad to have you come by. I first discovered your blog at one of Susie Lindau’s wild parties.
That sounds like a good story 😉
Pingback: Group Therapy: February « HACKER. NINJA. HOOKER. SPY.
Yup! I knew it. I love you already!! Your “about” page is fantastic and the title of your blog says it all. I can’t wait to spend some time in “your space” and learn more about you. So glad our paths crossed (I’m a huge fan of Mr. Hickson, too!!)
xo
Welcome soul sister!!
Great to discover your blog. Love to follow your blogs in future:)
So happy to have you along for the ride. Welcome!
Hello Susan, I read your guest post at BigLizzy’s and was positively uplifted by what you had to say. Lizzy kindly invited me to visit your blog, so here I am. And I fully agree with Maya Angelou, “When you know better, you do better”. 🙂
Welcome Nomzi! I am thrilled to have you visit my little corner of the world. Isn’t Lizzie da bomb?
Pingback: “Colors passing through us” by Marge Piercy | Words for the Year
Hello to a merchant mariner! I’m married to one.
Welcome! I’m married to one, too! My husband is a Chief Engineer on a large ferry. These days I’m land-locked, but always have a love for the sea.
Mine’s a tug and tow master, was also a port captain locally, but now goes out to sea. He’s been gone since March 10, just got word he MIGHT be home tomorrow for at least a little while. Funny, I’m not much of a boat person; I only go on the water if we’re in our little dory or kayak.
After a number of years working on ships where we were both on ship for up to 11 months a year (6 month+ hitches), the longest my husband is gone from home is a week. Week on, week off. For a mariner, it’s a sweet schedule. I’ve loved the sea since I was a kid in a rowboat.
11 months!!! Wow. Does he like that schedule? Hub sometimes does 2 weeks on/off and that was OK except he always gets called back early cos there’s always some crewing up crisis.
He does like that schedule, except that one week he’s got the day (12 hr) shift, and the next work week he works the night (12 hr) shift. The week after the 84 hr. nights is a tough one. It beats my last deep sea tour which was almost 200 days with no days off (it took a few weeks past the 6 months to get a relief person out to me in the Persian Gulf). The good thing about my old job was that I was single (dating hubster at the time), my commute to work was a few flights of stairs, no home on land to have to deal with, didn’t have to shop or prepare meals, just had to do my laundry and get to work. And sea time accrued fast so I was able to sit for and get my First Deck Officer, 1600 ton Master, steam or motor, on any ocean, license just after I stopped shipping out. I never used it, but I earned it! My last job I sailed as Ship’s Second Officer (navigator), also holding the 1600 ton Master’s license (any ocean).
That’s an awesome accomplishment! How did you like working in close quarters with all those men and that diesel smell?
I was on ships from 515′ to 700′ long. I was up to 6 decks from the engine room, so not much diesel smell there. One steam ship, too. But I also worked on small boats (60′ to 100′) where the diesel smell did me in on rough seas. Thank goodness for Dramamine! Didn’t have too much trouble with the guys. Just one or two bad eggs (as much as at any job I suppose). On the ships I had my own room and as an officer got my own bathroom too (woo hoo!)
Those are huge ships! Hubs been on some of those, but mostly now 150ft tugs towing huge barges. Your own b/b sounds great, not to have to share with anyone!
Very lovely.. Thank you for sharing your life. =) I’m just a beginner and your blog caught my eyes..=)
Thanks for visiting! Welcome.
Susan, thanks for visiting my photo pages. I really like your photos and writing! 🙂
Thanks John. If I had more time and energy to devote to my photography, I’d have a separate blog for it. But at this time in my life, my time for photography is unfortunately limited.
I realized after I sent you the message that you didn’t visit my site, sorry. You have a great eye for photos!
Thanks. I just now visited your site. Will have to look further. Beautiful work.
Pingback: This is Our Love Story: A Guest Post from Susan Snyder – Lipstick and Laundry
Sounds like you’ve got your plate full! I’m glad to be around to support another mother! Were all in this together!
Yes, it’s definitely a full and interesting life. Thanks for visiting!
Pingback: Spring Tulip Festival 2016 | Life Is A Journey… Not A Guided Tour
I just get it. I never experienced any problems like yall with all the hormones and all. Attention seeking?
Signed.
Father of 5.
Sorry. I meant I dont get it. Now i must look stupid.
Not sure what you mean by attention seeking. Guess you aren’t aware of how hormones affect the body. When the body doesn’t have enough of a hormone, or too much of one, or they are out of balance, it can wreak havoc on the emotions and the also the physical body. The chemistry of hormones is critical to the body. Ever hear of roid rage? (As in rage caused by taking steroids? They are a type of hormone). Because of having to deal with it all, I’ve learned a little bit. Don’t know if any of your 5 children have hit puberty, but that’s what I’m talking about.
OMG. I always assume people know about my little issue with sarcasm. I do know I currently am totally roided up for a contest. My kids all are past puberty, wait except 1. Actually I wanted to make contact with you on an entire different issue, is there away we can communicate that you are ok with?
Ah!! Yes, sarcasm can really miss sometimes. Totally got it now! (Blushing) My email is on the bottom of this “about” page.
Your message here is equal parts informative, warming, and appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you, Eric.
It’s really nice to connect! My children also had colic and reflux (now teens) and I, too have a love of picture taking. I look forward to looking around your site 🙂
Welcome! Browse away. Check out my categories search box and see if anything in particular interests you.
Hi Susan,
My journey made itself aware to me in February, and that’s when I started my spiritual awakening. There’s very few people I have been able to talk to this about, because it’s such an unbelievable story. But, the few who get it, really get it. I’m looking forward to reading your stories:)
Welcome Soul Sister!! It’s an amazing ride. And yes, it can take a lot of looking to find those who share a similar experience. I actually woke up after a psychic reading from a woman who is now a very dear friend/ teacher and soul sister. When I asked her about what happened, she laughed and told me I was a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked. Most of my healing journey is chronicled in this blog when I write about hypnosis sessions. (I share the more intense or dark stuff for the other site). Otherwise, I share my love of photography here now and then, and share my journey raising a very special boy (who is almost 14- yikes!).
Aloha from Hawaii!
I am a fellow Merchant Marine, a QMED and I have been sailing the high seas for 15 years commercial, after retiring from the US Navy. So, I have been all over and around the world, several times. (My avatar picture was taken in Iquique, Chile!) I found you on another blog, and wanted to give a shout out to a fellow Sailor!
I see you are retired from shipping now, and enjoying the shoreside life! That’s cool.
Yea,working the 12 hour days for months at a time gets old, but it sure is worth it when I get that payoff & discharge, then I can RELAX 24-7 for months at a time!!! I have my wife and 4 kids that keep me busy when I am off work. They sure do grow up fast!
Enjoy, and Have a Wonderful time……
Aloha Dale. Thanks for the shout out. The things I miss most about sailing are the view from the bridge (my last deep sea gig was 2nd officer/navigator), and navigating on the seas. Just love navigation. These days, I’m navigating life with a family. Fair winds and following seas to you and yours!
A response on your post Time to Tack: If it helps at all, my awakening took years. My life turned upside down. It was awful for too long. But then it got better. Now I see more clearly and understand more fully. As time passes my life gets better and better. Too bad for me that it wasn’t easy, like life seems to be for some, but from this vantage point I’m happy to have had the awakening even though the emotional difficulty was astounding because maybe my view from here is better than theirs. Blessings on your journey. It gets better.
Thanks a lot for your thoughts and support.
Hi. I just found your blog via Waking the Infinite and see that we have things in common, and even as I type this I feel like I am experiencing what might be my first hot flash! And my boy, nearly 11, has severe autism, and we’re both into holistic stuff too, so I look forward to following your blog. ❤
Thanks for popping over here. I haven’t been posting very often over the past year, because one of the effects from my Kundalini Awakening is having profound brain rewiring. It’s severely compromised my ability to read and write – which is very difficult as I’ve always been an avid reader who processes so much of her life through writing. Although my son isn’t on the autism spectrum, he shares some things in common, such as having sensory issues and anxiety. He’s able to read people like a book, feeling their authenticity and inauthenticity. He also has learning disabilities and ADD.
I don’t know if you know about Suzy Miller’s work with kids and families who deal with autism, but she’s amazing. I found her book Awesomism when my son was young. She’s a speech language pathologist whose life took an unexpected turn courtesy of one of her young clients. Today she does energy work. https://suzymiller.com/awesomism-the-book/
FYI, I have a sister blog (Remembering My Divinity) to this one where I write in more detail about the spiritual and healing side of my life. It’s a bit more raw and specific than this blog. Where I post about things that aren’t necessarily as easily digested. https://mypeacenow.wordpress.com/
I’m sitting here amazed at how strangely our lives have paralleled.
My oldest son, Austin, also was diagnosed with sensory integration issues. He was later diagnosed with autism and the journey that led me in trying to see him well probably was the very making of me as a woman in manu ways.
I also buried both my parents. They died within a few years of each other. My mom died 6 months after my husband of 12 years left me. It was such a painful season of my life with one loss after another after another. I found it extremely hard to cope and that led me into a serious addiction to prescription opiates ( pain meds).
Anyway, just had to share because as I read your info, I kept going, “me too! Me too!” Lol sometimes, just knowing you aren’t alone is comforting.
The me too, and knowing you’re not alone, is sometimes just what we need. Especially when we think no one’s been through what we’ve gone through, or could understand. When my son was about 7, I was introduced to Energy Healing. I had some talented healers work on him a number of times over distance, and I noticed changes in him. As much as he’s had diagnoses of SPD, ADHD, anxiety, and learning disorders, he’s not on the Autism Spectrum. (I specifically asked this of a neuropsychologist who evaluated him). I sometimes wonder if he would be on the spectrum if he hadn’t received so much healing work early on. I’ll never know.
I think that’s very likely! That’s so exiting that he’s benefited and improved!
A warm hello, Susan! I’m a Susan too. Something in a name. 😉
Photography is so very therapeutic. It literally takes our focus away from ourselves. You sound as though your plate is full.
I’m glad to have found your blog and hope to see more of it along the way. I take small sabbaticals from blogging sometimes and my daily life interrupts the rest, so I may not be the most frequent commenter. Best wishes!
Welcome and yes, photography has been a passion since I was about 10. I try to write almost daily, but getting pieces polished and published has been a bit of a challenge the past several years of going through an unexpected spiritual awakening. I hope when you have the time that you find something interesting here. Oh, and I’m originally from MA, too. 😉 The ‘burbs of Bean Town.