These two little words emblazoned on my brand new hot beverage holder have spoken volumes to me today. Keep growing. Keep. Growing.

My new coffee mug holds LOTS of steaming hot magical bean juice and has 3 of my favorite flowers on it too! I love daisies because I think they are silly and friendly looking and are all of the things I’m not. We’ll save that story for another day, though.

My new mug was a gift from a precious little lady at work. We have a lot in common because of our home life, and we like a lot of the same things, now that I think about it. This year has been hard for the both of us. Really, really hard and we have leaned on each other more than most people know about. Come to think of it…I’m not sure she knows how much I have depended on her in the past year. Well, if she ever reads this, she will know. I can’t tell her to her face because she’ll tune up and cry on me and we just can’t have that. She’s tender under that tough and rowdy exterior but we can’t have people knowing that either.

Those quick chats in my office about how to get rid of a body or what the sentence for murder would be have been important to the both of us. Now, before you start dialing 911 to report us, Karen… understand that we aren’t actually contemplating murder. At least not too seriously, but suffice it to say…we’ve had a rough year, and venting has been therapeutic for both of us. Besides, if you dial 911 around these parts one of us will likely answer the phone, so there’s that.

She said wanted me to have the mug the minute she saw it. So, she bought it, wrapped it in the bubble wrap with the BIG bubbles (which is my absolute favorite kind), stuffed it in a box and packaged it up in really neat snowman wrapping paper and gave it to me today. “Keep growing” says the mug, “keep growing” as the three little daisies dance above that encouragement.

Now, to someone who didn’t know what we know about each other it might seem that this is a tribute to my awesome gardening skills (hahaha….<sigh>…yeah), or that it looks kind of primitive with it’s speckled pottery in that almost handmade style that I love so much. But I know what she meant when she picked it up and thought of me. I hope she thought of herself too, in that moment because we both need the message. Keep. Growing.

Amid the challenges of this year, and all my attempts to “count it all joy” and “just trust the process” and “accept the refining you’re going through”…and all that well meant advice I’ve been giving myself to negate all of the nonsense…I forgot how much I am growing. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who tends to lose focus through the chaos. It’s consuming sometimes isn’t it?

Meeting all the demands at work, school deadlines, needy spouses, kids hopped up on too much sugar and the never ending piles of laundry and dishes in the sink…it’s exhausting. I see you. Every woman needs a tribe of sisters behind her that get it.

So, to my overworked, under appreciated sisters…you are my tribe. I see you. I get you. We got this. Keep growing.