Homemade.Homegrown.Gypsy

09/28/2025

07/25/2025

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

07/15/2025

Your free time…
Your weekends…
That’s their childhood.

The days you want to just relax..
That’s when they’re watching. Waiting.
Soaking it all in.

They won’t remember if the house was spotless.
But they’ll remember you chasing them barefoot through the yard.
They’ll remember the pancake breakfasts and movie nights on the couch.
The mess, the chaos, the laughter, that’s what childhood feels like.

One day they’ll outgrow asking to play.
They’ll stop begging you to come look at what they made.

So if you’re wondering whether to say yes to another game, another walk, another cuddle?

Do it.

Because your time off?
It’s their core memory in the making.

07/09/2025

Halfway through the summer and this is your reminder… ☀️

“You can’t afford to go.”

I’ve heard it more times than I can count.

But my response has never changed:
“I can’t afford not to go.”

From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I’ve been criticized—for doing too much, for not doing enough, for how I parent, for when I rest, for when I don’t.

But one thing I’ve caught flack for the most?
Our vacations.
“You should save.”
“You should wait.”
“You can’t afford that.”

But here’s the truth:
We aren’t promised next summer.
We aren’t even promised tomorrow.

I could’ve waited until things were more stable… more comfortable.
But I would’ve missed years—
Years of memories with my only child.
Years of laughing on rollercoaster rides, eating hot dogs at the ballpark, and boarding last-minute flights just to be together somewhere new.

Can we wait? Sure.
But we can also miss out.

Time is a gift.
Time is not promised.

So don’t let guilt rob you of the moments that matter.
Don’t wait for perfect. It rarely comes.

I don’t always know how it’ll work out—but somehow, it always does.
And I’m forever grateful I didn’t put off living.

They say you get 18 summers with your kids…
We’re inching close to 18.

Maybe the vacations won’t end—
But they’ll change.
And so will we.

So here’s your permission slip:
Take the trip.
Make the memory.
Spend the time.
Because the cost of not going?
That’s far greater than the price of the vacation.

🖊️ Laurie Payne