blog.

The Dog Days of Summer

By Melissa McKay / August 26, 2020 /

August is not my favorite. At work, I find myself having to search for things to do, and this makes the HOT workday crawl. All of our summertime projects in the greenhouse have been completed. Plants have been cleaned up and fertilized. Summer annuals have come and mostly gone and it’s a little too soon…

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50 Before 50

By Melissa McKay / July 14, 2020 /

The countdown to 50 starts tomorrow! Well, it started the day I was born, but you know what I mean. Since this is a lengthy list, I won’t bore you by going into detail on every single goal. But I plan to give updates on my progress, and I’ll take time to focus on one…

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I Regret (Almost) Nothing

By Melissa McKay / June 16, 2020 /

In a few short months, I will be 46. It seems that time moves incrementally faster as I age. I’ve crested the hill of my mid-forties and I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster zipping downhill towards 50. I recently read I Miss You When I Blink, which is FABULOUS, BTW. The author, Mary Laura…

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Enough is Enough

By Melissa McKay / June 1, 2020 /

I was almost arrested once. I was born and raised in the south. My family wasn’t affluent, but we had what we needed and enjoyed some splurges from time to time. I was jealous of friends whose families could take frequent vacations and buy any new clothes, music, toy, etc. advertised on TV or in…

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Current Mood

By Melissa McKay / May 18, 2020 /

Greetings, friends. I hope all is well. The McKay household is coping. Tim was taken out by vertigo last week, something he’s never experienced before. He’s not 100%, but he’s gone back to work today. There’s a very slight possibility that Reagan has been exposed to Covid19, so she got tested today. She received As…

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Obligatory Mother’s Day Post

By Melissa McKay / May 9, 2020 /

I hate Mother’s Day. There. I said it. There’s this pressure to live up to expectations, either expressed or assumed. There’s guilt and shame if we don’t give the cards, gifts, and heaps of praise on social media society deems as appropriate. Someone is bound to be disappointed. For so many women, tomorrow will be…

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Zoom Out

By Melissa McKay / April 25, 2020 /

I don’t have a list of the #thingsthatgivemelife today, but I do want to talk about a decision I’ve made that, I believe, is helping me preserve my sanity. As you know, I am a mega introvert. I draw energy from alone time. Every interaction I have with another person is another drain of my…

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Completing The Cycle

By Melissa McKay / April 7, 2020 /

It is March 37th. I think it is Monday, because I didn’t have to go to work. We are all healthy, and everyone but Pierce is still working for “essential businesses”. The kids are kinda stir crazy. Tim and I aren’t too bothered by the order to stay home, but I do miss our dinner…

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Life is Terrifying…Here’s a Puppy

By Melissa McKay / March 16, 2020 /

To quote Thomas Paine, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”  Middle TN can’t catch a break. As our cities continue to recover from tornado destruction, COVID-19 has become a national crisis. Meetings, schools, concerts, sports, vacations and book tours have been cancelled. Churches have made the move to stream services online. Bars are…

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Things That Give Me Life

By Melissa McKay / March 10, 2020 /

It’s been a somber week for middle TN. March 3, in the early morning hours, 4 tornados came through Nashville, Mt. Juliet, and Cookeville killing 24 people and leveling homes, businesses, and schools. While our family is safe and we had no property damage to our home or Tim’s business, our friends were not so…

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