Tag: Love

The Padawans have surpassed the masters… and other things that happen when you become a parent.

The Padawans have surpassed the masters… and other things that happen when you become a parent.

by Maelyn Murray ♥ 1 Comment

Let me start this off by saying that it is fitting that my husband’s love for Star Wars ties into our parenting journey.

I still remember the early days of our relationship, and sitting down for the 1st movie, which, fun fact, is actually the 4th chapter (my husband would be proud I’ve included this). And I remember thinking… 9 movies?…and in so many words, I thought – how will this impact our relationship?

I guess this is my answer…

To be honest… parenting feels like bouncing around chapters, book reprints, movie remakes, and any other analogy you can think of that can explain how impermanent things can be while navigating parenthood.

It’s a constant learning process.

It’s rewriting, editing, and publishing what you learn along the way. And deleting what doesn’t really fit into your life.

My husband and I are so grateful to have learned so much from our parents and people who have become parents before us. But when it comes to raising our child… we’ve come to realize the process is ultimately up to our little one and us as a unit.

Our childhoods, whether we want to admit it or not, play a huge role in our decisions as parents who are on the other side of the delicate dance of growing up.

Our parents’ advice, our siblings’ advice, parenting books, and documentaries might change bits and pieces of the trajectory of our parenting. But at the end of the day, we create it and follow through with what we believe in and what our hearts tell us to.

So much of learning how to do something you’ve never done before, is learning from someone you trust, respect, and love.

And we have been extremely fortunate to have copious amounts of wonderful people who have raised wonderful people…

Yet in the same way, we have also learned the things we won’t do, the things we won’t let be generational or repeated for our child’s upbringing.

Like anything in the world, parenting advice changes, it reverses, and it gets overturned…

The thing is, it often stays the same for the people who lived it & practiced certain parenting styles during their time. And it can be difficult to share aspects of parenting with people who don’t and won’t share your updated outlook.

Being parents in today’s world, where there are 1000 and 1 options and opinions in the palm of our hands, as well as our own parents’ advice, can be overwhelming to say the least…

My husband and I have found that the one thing we know to be true & constant in this parenting journey, is our undying team work. We luckily share similar mindsets for learning in real time alongside one another, and we absolutely love sharing all the parenting ups and downs.

We have also found that what our parents did, does not necessarily mean it’s the rule or the best/worst option for us.

What I’m trying to say is this…

Growing up is wild.

Finding who you want to spend your life with is wild.

Building a family with someone is wild.

And redefining what your child’s upbringing will look like is wild.

When I say the padawans have surpassed the master, I mean it in the most loving way….

Like in Star Wars… when this happens, it’s celebrated.

The next generation is taking the reins, and they are creating the next generation of padawans.

It’s a good thing, and it should be the goal… don’t you think?

Divorced, but not apart

Divorced, but not apart

by Maelyn Murray ♥ 0 Leave a Comment


I come from a divorced family, but I hardly view it as such. Even though my parents divorced when I was young, our family has never truly been separated. In the early days of the divorce, my parents managed to stay friends (no matter how tough it was) and were able to hold conversations about our lives. And to be honest, the initial transition was really tough for us to navigate. Growing up, my sister and I would switch between houses every other day, then every other week, and when we were old enough, we simply got to choose where we went. And over time, we began to gradually spend our major life events in a group. This includes birthdays, graduations, engagements, weddings, births, and holidays. 

It’s odd when I think about it, but when I was old enough to discuss divorce, it wasn’t some no-no subject. Almost all my friends had split families, and none of us viewed it as abnormal, because it was our normal. We all grew up with multiple lifestyles, and I think in the long run, it helped us learn to adapt to the continuous changes in life. 

My family may be rare in the way we live our lives, but truthfully, I can’t imagine it any different.  I know, sounds strange right?  But I can’t really imagine a life where my parents were still together. If I were to imagine a life where my parents were together, I would also have to imagine a life where all of my step family members and all the people who came with them were non-existent, and that is tough. 

Being newly married myself has shown me that love and marriage can sometimes be broken up into categories. I also learned that marriage is a choice made everyday, and not just on the day you say “I do”. Everyone deserves to live a life filled with the people they love, and a life where they love themselves. I believe that’s what happened when both my parents found love for a second time. They built a beautiful family, and they loved us and themselves enough to add to it over the years. My circle is immeasurable and it feels like it’s always growing for the better.  


I don’t like the term “broken family”, and this is why. While the world has been better about simply accepting the different classifications of family, I think that normalizing and seeing the beauty in the cracks of family is next. My family reminds me of Kintsugi – the japanese art of repair. Kintsugi is when cracks are filled with gold. It is based on the idea that the cracks and imperfections can actually make things better. My family is filled with gold, and is stronger for it.

Star Wars and Chill

Star Wars and Chill

by Maelyn Murray ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

After dating for a month, my husband and I were in a bit of a date rut. This was mostly because we had to see each other around our restaurant job schedules, and my college classes, but we wanted to try to keep things both fun and relaxing.  One night, we were sitting on the couch, and finally decided to watch something I had never watched.  According to my husband, we had a list of amazing movies that I needed to watch. And because of our age gap – this list was far from short. We ended up deciding on Star Wars, and as everyone knows, the ONLY way to watch Star Wars is in ORDER. 

Originally I wasn’t really sure about it, or even too keen on the idea. I am more of a romantic comedy type of gal, but my boyfriend – now husband, was and is a super fan. When I say super fan, I really mean it. He had the box set at the ready and knew all the answers to every question I had (yes, this included planets, foods, ships, and even language names).  He even debated on not making me watch the first three episodes of the saga, but eventually decided it needed to happen due to the plot & questions I would inevitably have later on (disclaimer : this something he asked me to include). Anyways, we started with the first movie – and watched it – with him watching me, almost more than the movie itself. He was set on me not missing a thing! 

Now, here’s why I ended up loving watching the movie series. This was the beginning of 9 pre-planned dates, there was no need to plan what we might be doing, or even go anywhere. Score! I am an extreme homebody and love a night in:)  We also had take-out (Indian and Chinese are our go-tos) and cozily set ourselves up to watch the movies in order – perfect date night if you ask me! 

I saw a side of my husband that was so damn lovable, that it was probably one, amongst the many things that made me fall for him. I think when you see someone love something and want to share it with you, you also start to love it and them that much more. 

Fast forward to being married, and it is still something we do! We watch the movie series in order, and we of course add in the appropriate movies that have been released since. 

My advice to any couple: Find small things like this, and make it a special thing to do with your S/O. Little traditions like this are magical, and keeps us reminded of why we really fell for the other person. 

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Why I asked the love of my life to marry me, instead of waiting for him to ask

Why I asked the love of my life to marry me, instead of waiting for him to ask

by Maelyn Murray ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

When my husband and I got engaged in 2019, almost every person assumed he asked me, and wanted to know the juicy details of how it all happened. They wanted to see the ring and the pictures of the engagement, but the thing was – I didn’t have either of those. 

There was however a story. 

I would tell them our engagement story.  How there were red cut out hearts that had reasons why we love one another, how twinkling lights hung from the ceiling, how rows and rows of photos of us throughout the years dangled by ribbons throughout the house, and how in a bed of leaves, backlit by lights, it said “My Love,  Marry Me?”. After the “omg’s” and “awws” I would then add how I got down on one knee and asked him to marry ME. 

It seems crazy that we are in 2021, and yet people still can’t wrap their heads about how I asked him. I got questions like “are you sure he wants to marry you?”, “Did he mind that you did that, you took his thunder!” and, my all time favorites “you emasculated him” and  “you are so brave”. My reaction was always accompanied by a chuckle, but I don’t much care for them, much less think they’re amusing. 

I want to be clear,  I am not saying that the tradition of a man asking a person to marry him is any less special, because it most definitely is! Anyone asking that question to another person is beautiful!  I am saying that the awe I received for doing it myself, was, well discouraging. In the very beginning I used to tell people he did, and end the conversation right there, but over time, it felt silly. Me asking him to marry me is and always will be a part of our love story, and I absolutely love it! 

Here is why I asked my husband to marry me – I loved him. It is that simple. I knew that the friendship we built would only get better, and I went for it. 

We are now married and purrfect cat parents.