when happy tears happen more
for the mum who forgot this is possible
Today in my classroom, two Italian guys in their twenties turned back into little boys playing football with my kindergarteners in the humid heat, red-faced and beaming.
One of my children looked up at me, completely baffled and said: “I thought they were kids.”
I thought, yes. That is exactly the point.
Your inner child has not gone anywhere.
She is waiting for you to remember her.
Here’s how to return home to joy.
Last night, I cried.
Like I haven’t in a long time.
Like post-breakup last March, but this time full of ecstasy.
My mentor Bettya Saleh calls them tears from the spirit. I believe it.
Five years ago, I cried myself to sleep in a mental clinic, overthinking ways to kill myself. Suicidal thoughts didn’t leave me like piled-up washing you leave for days.
Last night I cried because I did it. I moved alone to Costa Rica. I found my dream job as a kindergarten teacher on the beach, in the jungle, wrapped in nature and enlivened every single day by the children who fuel my stories and my writing.
This is my life. And I am in awe of it.
This one is for the mums who question their power and are learning to remember their peace.
Sundays are usually my solitude day. My friend here jokes that she can never plan anything with me on a Sunday.
But yesterday I had energy, and a fellow writer and teacher from school invited me to her poetry book launch and asked me to translate two of her poems into English.
What an honour.
I got caught in the rain on the way. I sang life is an adventuuuure to myself to battle the fear and draw near.
Picked up a new friend, a volunteer staying at the same household I lived in when I first arrived here.
I know exactly how it feels to be new, without transport, without bearings.
It is my pleasure to take them around.
She was made up. Thanked me so many times after our beach walk and sunset.
We bumped into my friend with a beachfront house (heads up, that is absolutely where I am holding my retreat next year!! LOOK ABOVE AT THE SUNSET VIEW).
We were hyped off connection.
There are two volunteers at my school right now.
Italian guys, early twenties, three weeks in and their last day was today.
When they first arrived, they said they’d love to come play with my kindergarten class someday.
So this morning I said: come at 10:30 and play with the children outside.
And wow.
These guys turned back into boys.
Playing football with the little ones. Then tag.
Sweating in the humid heat, red-faced, beaming. Not stopping until they had to.
I stood on the side, reminding my kiddos to drink water, watching everyone light up.
One hour zoomed by, as it always does in present play.
As they said goodbye to the kids and we sat at the table, one child looked up at me completely baffled:
“I thought they were kids?”
I laughed.
It reminded me of a story I shared in my book:
A child in my old kindergarten in Germany once thought I was a child, too.
He told me that adults don’t laugh as much as I do.
Brutal. Honest. Perfect.
This is what I want to say to you, mommas and poppas:
Your inner child is ready to play at any time of day. And so is yours.
Present play soothes your nervous system.
It grounds your body, quiets your mind,
heals something in you that tight shoulders and daily doubt have been covering up.
To the mum waking up with fear of failing, following her everywhere, this is for you.
You don’t need to perform.
You don’t need to push harder.
You just need to remember: this is why we are here.
I invite you to join me tomorrow!!
A soul invite:
For the mums al(READY) on their journey retunring to themselves
No excuses on time because you know even 5 minutes can reset your NS
for the women who need more womens cricles that enhance longetivy
to feel more understood, seen, and heard
Tomorrow I am going live for the first time in a long time.
I used to go live every Monday for six months with Aneta.
This time I am showing up for the mums who want to join a circle of others ready to hug their nervous system and nurture their inner child, to find more presence, peace, and play with their children every day.
I’m going live tomorrow at 6:30pm CST to share more about what The Seed circle looks like.
No pressure. Just an open door to find out more and BE MORE! 🌿
With gratitude, Grace
I appreciate you being here. I’m assuming, since you subscribed to Live with Grace, that you are here to slow your pace. You don’t have to push harder; you need to soften smarter. That starts with YOU! Here are my resources to rest to be our best together:
🌻 My bestselling self-help book Chill Out and Cheer Up, new revised edition, written for the version of you who is ready to come home to herself.
🌻 The Parents Handbook Guide, your companion for more presence, peace, and play with your children every day.
🌻 Join The Seed circle and come live with me tomorrow at 6:30 pm CST, a soft space to hug your nervous system and nurture your inner child.
You are so good as usual! Thank you, Grace!!
Grace, this moved me because you hold joy here as something deeply earned, not shallow or accidental. The contrast between tears once shaped by despair and tears now shaped by awe gives this reflection unusual tenderness, because it honors how healing can slowly become visible in places that once only carried survival. I also loved how the children and even the volunteers becoming “little boys” again reinforced your deeper point: play, wonder, and the inner child are not lost, only often buried beneath pressure, fear, and adulthood. Thank you for writing with such honesty, hope, and lived grace; this feels like both testimony and invitation.