My Parents' 60th Anniversary of their Wedding here in Raleigh at Hayes Barton Methodist Church was last month. My brother, sisters and I have always celebrated this special occasion. You may have seen my fun video toast on my Instagram that day.
"Happy 60th to My Parents!"
We always expect feelings of gratitude, admiration and wistfulness for days gone by. We want to remember. This year, I wasn't prepared for the happy I felt .... even for just moments. Do you know how happy this little Instagram post made me feel?! For a moment, I was celebrating "My Parents!" Just saying "My Parents" felt so beautiful. In fact, I didn't expect to be overcome with emotion from referring to my parents.
You see it has been my entire adult lifetime since I have been able to refer to "my parents" when both of my parents were living. They shared a beautiful life, an extraordinary love and legacy. I've written about losing my Daddy, our Daddy, Husband, Leader, Friend, Advocate, Attorney, Deacon, sooooo much more lost way too soon. Then, I've shared about my Mommy, our Mommy, Wife, Leader, Friend, Advocate, Teacher, Community Leader and Builder, Music Ministry leader, soooo much more lost later and always to soon to their child. Even as an adult child.
There have been many stages through the years. This year, on our parents' - "my parents" - anniversary, these feelings caused me to pause.... For a moment. I saw us celebrating our parents, the party we created, the travel to get us together, the speeches we were making, the gifts we were giving, the food, all the favorite perennial, Southern dishes that our mother had prepared for so many years. Then, the photos.... oh, the selfies and family selfies we would take. The children, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren what joy!
They were beautiful and ecstatic moments! Naturally, too soon I was brought back to reality and the aching was real which reminded me of the Emily Dickinson poem my mother introduced us to when our Daddy went on to heaven. If you have lost a loved one and had the instant decisions of life to make in the middle of the fervent emotions, you understand The Bustle in a House the morning after death....
As painful as the loss is, I'm so grateful we had the love and life we did! I've found the beauty in the truth that those who go before live on in those lives they've left here. They loved life and family! I love their contagious smiles here!
Since writing this, Prince Harry revealed that he finally sought grief counseling many chaotic years after tragically losing his dear mother, Princess Diana. I well understand. Like Prince Harry, I learned the chaos of traumatic loss and the benefit of counseling, and more counseling. Thankfully, I've experienced the beauty of time, life, family and love growing beautifully after a season.
Like "The Bustle In A House," I look forward to the love I've swept up in my heart being "used" again in Eternity when I see "my parents!"
xo
Warmly,
Carolina Mama
* Resource I have shared prior is "Grief Share." "GriefShare is a friendly, caring group of people who will walk alongside you through one of life’s most difficult experiences. You don’t have to go through the grieving process alone." Not sponsored. I shared the success of my own Grief Share journey after many years. You could even use the course and resources on your own. The daily email is encouraging as well.
Our Bold Cast V is available on iTunes! Our first Guest Podcaster is our Charleston Guest Contributor, Heidi Haynes! We've worked with Southern Living Charleston on several occasions and other Charleston adventures!
We're talking all things Mama-ing three children five and under! Heidi has wonderful tips and tricks and really fun family ideas even I can use! Check her out!!!! And please subscribe to our iTunes Podcast channel so you can get automatic downloads of Bold Cast as they become available!
We love working together and here are a few of our pictures of past Southern Living adventures in Charleston!
Enjoy Heidi on the Bold Cast!
Malise Carolina Mama at Southern Living Charleston
Great tips and advice from our Guest Contributor on the blog, Carolina Mama Blog. Now, our Guest Podcaster joins us today. Welcome my fabulous niece, Heidi Haynes. Thank you for sharing today, Heidi! Take a listen and thanks for joining us!
Welcome and Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter! Thrilled to bring to you this Bold Cast IV podcast on Easter weekend talking about all things Faith, Family and Calling! So excited to about it with you all! Before you go listen, I've got real news Bold Cast Malise Terrell is in the iTunes store! You can subscribe (free subscription) on iTunes Store Podcasts! When you subscribe, iTunes automatically downloads the news podcast episodes onto your device so you can listen on the go whenever you would like!
CarolinaMama the Terrell Tribe Bold Cast Have fun!
Thank you for subscribing! We are also on I Heart Radio! I hope you'll take a listen wherever you go! Podcasts are there.
"These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer:! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 Hallelujah!
Terrell Tribe Bold Living
Welcome to Bold Cast IV! Living and loving life. Bold, your life, your voice used authentically. Join Malise Terrell of Carolina Mama Blog in the Raleigh area of North Carolina sharing about bold living. See y'all soon!
When Crystal Coast Tourism invited our family to North Carolina's Crystal Coast for a Family Travel Review of our lovely coastline, we were overjoyed. We love sharing about our lovely Carolinas. Sun-Surf Realty of Emerald Isle, North Carolina offered to host our family in one of their fabulous oceanfront properties. We found great beauty and activity with peace and calm at Emerald Isle.
We arrived to this beautiful, palatial property, Hart & Sole, at Emerald Isle, NC. It is a 6 bedroom, 5 bath oceanfront property. Immediately, we felt comfortable in this serene home.
Hart and Sole, Emerald Isle, NC
As you know from visiting here at Carolina Mama, we love the shore. We love and adore our Carolina Beaches. However, this was our first visit to the Crystal Coast and we couldn't wait to get there. These Southern Outer Banks were beautiful from the moment we arrived, early Friday morning. We grabbed our boogie boards and immediately hit the waves. The Atlantic Ocean represented. We were so elated to just be there and in the water on this beautiful Spring day.
We arrived at Emerald Isle early Friday morning to saunter on the beach a little before our check in. To our delight at noon, while taking a break under our beach umbrella, we found a text on my phone from Sun-Surf Realty... "It's time to get your vacation started! Hart & Sole is ready for your check-in!" Like now!
We checked in at the Sun-Surf Realty front office. The staff was so friendly and accommodating - just as they had been on the phone and through email. They joyfully and competently answered every question. We received a great list of items to remember for a fabulous beach vacation. And the list of things that were provided at the home so we would not pack unnecessarily. So helpful! Tiffany and Tina and Jaclyn smiled as we checked in and gave us our package to start.
CarolinaMama and Family Emerald Isle, NC
This was the beautiful view from the back of the home. This faces the Ocean. So, here I am walking to the home from the Ocean on the boardwalk. Look at the sprawling porches on the back of the house. These are available from every room on the back of the home. We love this feature.
The upper level is a expansive screened in porch with patio furniture. This is off of the
large living area and kitchen. We are an active family so we loved this access.
This picture is charming to me as it shows how we lived and loved this home. The twinkle of the lights in the home at dusk as my husband captured this as we were just getting in from a wonderful day at the beach and were about to grill on the deck. See the blue adirondack chairs on the right upper deck, the grill is there and we spent so much time enjoying this together.
This was our Hart and Sole Sunset at Emerald Isle, NC. This was our sunset one evening from our own boardwalk from the back of the home. It was so beautiful.
Mornings looked like this from the upstairs porch as we enjoyed some quiet time, reading, painting and more. We got used to this view and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.
Hart & Sole Boardwalk Emerald Isle, NC CarolinaMama
As soon as we walked into this delightful kitchen, I was in love! The Kitchen is truly the center of activity and social time. We loved the convenience of this kitchen. It had EVERY.THING we needed and more. We enjoyed grilling and cooking here and spending time at the house together! This kitchen made it so comfortable and simple. It was nice to have every little luxury from hone here at our beach home away from home.
The eat in kitchen counter was very convenient. We spent time talking, cooking, laughing and more. Sun Surf Realty welcomed us with this great basket of Island specialties and snacks for our stay. We were well loved.
Here is my lovely husband after a wonderful day on the shore - he approaches our luxurious oceanfront home for the long weekend. Hart & Sole is truly, a splendid and serene home, we were so comfortable and relaxed with everything easily accessible. The water hoses to rinse off the sand were at the back and downstairs entrances, as well. The conveniences here are all perfect.
Our boys had made themselves comfortable enjoying the hot tub off of the master bedroom.
This was such a treat for everyone. It was a private closed in porch for the hot tub. It was a perfect "prescription" after our full days of activities.
Here is one of the six bedrooms. Each room is decorated so thoughtfully with every
amenity. We loved all of the anchors, sand dollars and crabs throughout the home.
Across the hall sat this great bunk bed room. All of the rooms had their own
access to the porches and their own spacious bathrooms. This one has a great porch and
plenty of closet space and is a walk straight out to the Ocean.
Our boys LOVED having extra bedrooms. This became their Entertainment Room as it had
lots of room for their games, and personal gear.
Here is another beautiful bathroom with everything possibly needed. The bathroom were spacious and stoked well with linens. We loved the colors throughout the home as it made for such a calm and peaceful setting.
We loved the convenience of the under the home carport at Hart and Sole. This lead to a nice and convenient indoor entrance to the home and to the elevator! This was so convenient! The elevator worked from the ground up to the third floor. Helpful! And fun! From this carport, there was an outdoor stair access that was nice and lead to the second floor.
This King Size Bedroom was beautiful and spacious. There was a beautiful bathroom
off of the bedroom with vanity and closet space.
Here is the most beautiful marble Spa Shower. The marble and shower settings and
roomy shower keep this home up to date with the latest amenities.
Every morning I enjoyed taking pictures of this amazing view. Look the water, is there any doubt where Emerald Isle got its name! The water was splendid every day with every detail.
Then, we would drink coffee here or on the many other decks and porches around the home.
We ate dinner al fresco here a couple of nights as we listened to the ocean waves crash around us.
Here is the great family room! This was fun having the family here while I cooked or
while Boulder Mt. Man grilled off of the deck here.
We loved working with Sun-Surf Realty for this beautiful reservation. Sun-Surf met our every need. They are open for office hours every day of your vacation. We appreciate their availability and ability to answer every question or solve any problems. Again, the Staff was so helpful and available to us.
Sun and Surf Realty, Emerald Isle, NC
Here is a lovely view from the main screened in porch with rocking chairs off of the large living area and kitchen. We loved the view.
Then, the time came that we had to say good bye. We created some memories for a lifetime here and we were so grateful we visited Hart & Sole, Emerald Isle, NC.
Here we are packed up and ready for our departure.
Hart and Sole Emerald Isle, NC 6 bedroom 5 bathroom oceanfront property
This view is one you'll want to see, too. Check it out and enjoy serenity and calm here
at the seaside.
Warmly, Carolina Mama
FTC Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Crystal Coast Tourism and Sun Surf Realty. All opinions are my own. #MyCrystal Coast
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