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I’m not going to lie, 2019 has been a crazy ride for me. So much happening with my business (I incorporated, Trademarked my brand, and made two hires– in addition to some longer term plans and deals that I haven’t announced yet) and definitely in my personal life. I moved, renovated a home while living in it, got pregnant with my third child, and separated from my husband of eight years (who I had been with since I was only 24 years old). But with all these ups and downs have come some incredible lessons, reinforcements of important truths, and the illumination of so many blessings. Truth be told, I’m extra thankful this year, and with the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, I thought it would be the perfect time to share a bit about what I’m most thankful for at this moment in my life.
Health…
“Health is Wealth” is a phrase I come back to often, and contemplate daily. I have many close friends and family who have either been fighting tough battles with their health this year or who have recently gotten well from some serious scares. I am reminded every day how grateful I am to be healthy and to be experiencing a drama-free, healthy pregnancy with my third precious child. This is not lost on me. Whenever I have stressful days or weeks, I try to remind myself that unless it has to do with our health, all other stressors are temporary and ultimately unimportant. The same goes for the health of my children. I couldn’t be more thankful that the three of them(!) are all doing so well and have moved on from any health scares in their lives with grace. This is such a blessing. I know there are so many parents out there who can’t say the same, and my heart goes out to each and every one of them. I wish I could give a big hug to any suffering Mamas out there who might need one right now.
Being A Mama…
Speaking of my kids, I have never had a year of my life where I felt more thankful to have the three souls I am lucky enough to call mine. My kids have been such a North Star for me this year, in so many moments of feeling lost, confused, or overwhelmed. If I ever need to re-center myself, I always access that by spending close, quiet time with my babies. Looking in their eyes, sensing their love and their trust, and breathing in their sweet baby smells has the power to alleviate any pain for me. I feel so much purpose in being a Mom, more than I ever knew I could, and I am thankful beyond belief that I am lucky enough to go down the Motherhood path one more time with my third baby. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and I am so excited to meet the sweet soul who chose our family during the most complicated but beautiful phase of our journey.
Love…
Love is a word I’ve redefined for myself this year. What I want from it, what I need from it, and who/when/why I give it. And the most incredible thing has been that just by re-examining the concept of Love for myself and what matters to me, I have ended up with even MORE of it– and even stronger representations of it in my life. Kyle and I have such a deep love for one another, and we always will. In fact, we both feel that the love and commitment we have for each other as the closest of friends (and forever family) is even better and deeper than the Love we had before as a married couple. I feel beyond blessed to have Kyle in my life, and as my children’s father. I also feel so thankful for all of the love I feel from my Friends right now. I have been so selflessly surrounded by the most beautiful souls during this tough time in my life and in my family’s journey. The cliché is that you find out “who people really are” in the tough times in your life, and I couldn’t agree more. I feel so grateful that at this phase of my life I am able to take stock of my relationships and reprioritize, putting energy in to the relationships that are truly solid and beautiful. My Love cup runneth over these days! Most of all, I’m thankful that I love myself in this moment more than I ever have. At times, my life’s journey (and various relationships) have made me feel like I wasn’t truly worthy of Love. It’s taken me a long time to know that my own truth is enough for me, that I trust myself more than ever before, and I am finally comfortable completely in my own skin and in my own mind. I never believed I would feel this solid on my own two feet.
Adventure…
This next chapter is going to be my greatest adventure yet! Did I think ten years ago that I would be a single mom of three kids before I turned 35 years old? Absolutely. Not. Will this be the beginning of a completely new story for me? YEP. I’m embracing this new vibe, this ultra-full life I’m so lucky to have, and everything the Universe has in store for me. I plan to laugh more in 2020 than I ever have before. I’m so thankful to all of you, to the Happily Eva After community, for coming on this adventure with me. Thank you for listening, for offering so much of your own energy to me, for embracing my family with so much love, and for being such beacons in your own lives and communities. Every single person out there is so busy, and has lots on their plates, and I am truly honored that you choose to spend even a little of your time here with me.
Wishing you and yours so many blessings this holiday season, hearts full of love, plates full of food, and more laughter than you can handle. Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Eva
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Photographs by Julia Dags
Sending you and your family all the love, kindness and support for the future xxx
Hello, wishing you peace and joy this holiday season. I relate so much to what you wrote.
I’m not a mom, but I am a teacher and caring for my students and seeing what they go through makes me so grateful for my own parents. I can imagine this is true for moms as well.
This is beautiful! Very well written, beautiful styling and extremely wise and compassionate. Live you guys! ????
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your beautiful family. Love and gratitude are two sentiments I have been trying to live by and more so lately after going through a crazy year myself. Your post truly embraced that and thank you as always for sharing. Wishing you and your family continued love and happiness from one of your Miami followers!
Eva you are truly amazing, i really feel you, and i wish you all the best for the year to come, it is going to be geat!!!
Thank you for Being so smart about this situation it is truly inspiring.
And the only Thing you shouldn’t be thankful for is going through all this changes without booze… ?♀️????❤️❤️❤️
Dear Eva,
I’ve said this to you before, but I continue to be in awe of your strength. You’re a great mom and an incredible human.
Wishing you and your beautiful kiddos a wonderful holiday season!!!
Thankful for your spirit and daily life inspo! I think this will be your best year yet – I’m sure of it. Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving and many blessings for the coming year. C x
Hope you have the best Thanksgiving with your family!! Change is hard but the best is yet to come!
Hello Eva,
I‘m wishing you and all your loved ones the best holiday season so far!
Thank you for always being so open and honest and thank you for this blog post… it left me with tears in my eyes! I feel more thankful (and that‘s something I tried 2019 to learn) for all my blessings only after reading this! xxx
Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am so in awe of your strength and wisdom every time. Your love for your family is so obvious even through the filter of social media and the internet and I just wish you all the health and happiness in the world! Xo
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your beautiful family. May this chapter be full of self love and happiness! XO
I love this article so much! I love how much you have embraced the changes in your life and have chosen to grow from and be thankful from them. The frase “ I never believed I would feel this solid on my own to feet” it’s so powerful and a lesson of hope to us all! That’s what I strive for every day! And just knowing that is possible gives me hope!!!! Thank you for sharing this beautiful post!!! Happy thanksgiving!!
Thank you for opening your world and sharing your heart. Every post, every picture, every Instagram, every Instastory… we are with you. We may not ever meet you but we share life’s experiences with you and for that, we are grateful. You bring us love, hope, honesty, realness, beauty, power.
We are with you. Xo
Transition is hard. Thank you for reminding me that gratitude is the best way to embrace it.
LOVE this post. You are such an incredible woman, can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store for the Martino Family xoxo
Dear Eva, I follow you since 2 years at least and I am always grateful for your advice and beautiful blog. You are always honest with your community and I appreciate this a lot. I don’t what happend but I can say that you’re really strong and true person. I wish you all the best for the present and the future. Much love, Roberta from Italy.
I think you are an amazing person and mom of course. Love you. Have a great Thanksgiving holiday. XOXO from Israel
Very nice to hear you’re doing so well! I can’t wait for the dating posts to come! You will have to design a dating app for single parents.
Eva,
You are such an inspiration to me deep to the core. You are brave, beautiful and full of so much joy. YOU are the example I want to follow during my own difficult times. Bless you and your family. Cheers to health & new beginnings in 2020. I too have so much to be thankful for in my life and you sharing yours & giving me renewed strength is also something I’m thankful for. -Elizabeth
You come across to me as a very optimistic go-getter who even in dark times is able to get back on her feet and keep going with a smile on her face.
That is something I would like to achieve in my personal journey someday. I always end up being too negative or frozen by my insecurities. And mostly I avoid the unknown, and end up missing out on many things. I just wish I could figure out a way to experience things in a more positive light. And the anxiety I get sure doesn’t help me get there!
Oh well, lots of work for me still to do. And lots of admiration for your positive attitude and take on life.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Brava!! Thanks for sharing your beautiful, funny and exceptional little dancers (Just lol at your stories) with us, your honesty and hope is refreshing!
I came across your blog when I suffered a miscarriage and now also in transition from divorce after a big move back to Ct, it means the world to me to “connect” with other woman in similar and difficult situations. Gratitude is the right attitude!!
All good things for 2020!
Julie
Eva,
You are a tremendous mom and person. I know that all you touch will be golden. Your children are jewels.
Wishing you the happiest new year easing into your new life and your family’s new transformation.
Happy Thanksgiving!
You are so brave ?marriage and relationships are so complex. I wonder if you’ll share more about deciding to separate in the midst of pregnancy and even though you say you love each other so deeply. I bet there are so many who would love to hear more about what inspired the decision to separate and/or
what it is each of you are looking for in marriage if not a partner that You deeply love and are committed to being a forever family with. What is the ideal relationship and what are the dealbreakers…such complexes questions . ?
Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for sharing so much of your life and putting to words what so many women are feeling and going through. Having little kids means things are always in motion and it is fun to see other Moms in the trenches not only surviving but thriving. ?
I love your journey. I feel like divorce is a taboo topic that isn’t talked about and everything that isn’t talked a lot about can be isolating and even more complicated. I know its hard to share but I am so grateful that you are- because its a common thing.. but uncommon to handle it in such an eloquent way as you two are. I’m just curious- how you guys knew it was the right decision to make that move? Did one of you initiate it more so than the other? Was there one big instance that happened that you knew you needed to get a divorce?
I may be going through this soon. Any tips on how to tell the kids?
Did you know about this when you got pregnant? Do you see yourself getting married again one day?
You are so strong and beautiful and I cant wait to see the bright things that happen in your future!
You are so optimistic and positive. I pray you are not hiding behind a brave face. I pray you have people to cry with and be sad with as I’m sure deciding to divorce while pregnant with your 3rd baby is harder than you’ve let on to your readers. I’m happy for you that you are looking forward and able to see the good ahead but give yourself a lot of grace along the way. No doubt you are a capable woman. Your love for your children is more than obvious and I have no doubt you are doing the best for all of you.
I always remember this: “kindness is my religion.” Be kind to yourself and walk softly. Do what is the best for you now. Your journey continues with love.