When to Plan and When to Leap: A Mom’s Letter on Home, Food, and Finding Your Way

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Some things demand a plan, like getting the turkey in the oven on time. Other things — like starting a blog in the middle of a career transition — require a leap of faith.

Dear Charli,

I’ve spent most of my life planning.

Planning holiday menus down to the minute.
Planning carpools, calendars, and the thousand tiny details that keep a household running.
Planning large enterprise-wide transitions at work. Blocking and tackling all the steps that make a career.

Most of the time, planning works.
Take Thanksgiving – of all the holidays, this is the one that absolutely demands a plan. You can’t just wake up Thursday morning and wing it (unless you want to risk burnt rolls, dry stuffing, unhappy family members – or all three!). Thanksgiving is a symphony. Everything has to go in the oven at the right time, rest at the right time, and land on the table like magic.

But then there are the other moments – the messy, uncertain, life-is-changing times – when planning doesn’t feel quite right. When no amount of lists or timelines can tell you what comes next. When the planning doesn’t serve you as well.

I’m in one of those moments now.

I’m unemployed for the first time in a long time. I’m figuring out my next big move. And instead of waiting for the perfect plan… I’m plunging ahead into this blog.

Why now?

Because the clock is ticking. It isn’t ticking in a dramatic “you have T minus 3 minutes” way. I haven’t received a terminal diagnosis or anything, but it is ticking in an honest, human way that is reminding me that life doesn’t wait. There are things I want to leave behind for you and for your siblings. Stories, recipes, lessons, ideas, comfort, memories – the parts of me I hope you’ll want someday, whenever “someday” arrives.

This blog is for all of you.
But between us? You’re the one I suspect will be most interested in what I have to share, even if that day isn’t today. Because let’s be really honest here. You’re a teenager and you’ve gotten really good with the side-eye. So you aren’t much interested today. But still…

You’re curious. You notice things. You experiment in the kitchen. You like to plan occasions. You live life in a bold way. You aren’t afraid to make mistakes. You care and love deeply. You ask questions none of us expect. You are figuring things out. And you have this spark – this mix of creativity and courage – that tells me you might find something here you’ll want to come back to.

But this blog is also for whoever you become. And I am so looking forward to meeting the future you!

Maybe you’ll want these recipes. Maybe you’ll want the entertaining tips. Maybe you’ll want the stories about our family or the lessons I learned the hard way. Maybe you’ll want the comfort. Maybe you won’t. And that’s okay. This isn’t about shaping who you should be. It’s about leaving something for whoever you are – or will be – when the time comes that you want and/or need it.

And along the way, anyone else reading – your brothers or sister-in-law, teens setting up their first apartment, young adults figuring out life without a “mom figure,” parents trying to stay close to teenagers who communicate mostly in shrugs – you’re welcome here too.

Home isn’t about perfection. It’s about comfort, connection, and creating a place where you can exhale. And that’s what I want this corner of the internet to be.

So this first post is my own plunge.
Not fully planned. Not perfectly polished. Just real. Just me, trying to give you space, while staying close.

In the posts to come, I’ll share food, entertaining ideas, everyday wisdom, and stories that connect all of it together. Some light. Some deeper. All written to you, but shared for anyone who might need them.

So here we go, Charli.
Here’s the start of something new – for both of us.

Love,
Mom