✌️❤️🐕🎁

Hello and good wishes for the coming year. If you haven’t already followed helenthemellon on Instagram and seen every moment of our life, here’s 2018’s revelations – LOST and FOUND:

Helen started out by writing a snarky letter but decided that she and the world needs more love and positivity. And remember it’s all about her! This year Helen was truly lost, the finality of the empty nest, the lack of a career to hang her hat on and kids living in 4 distant directions left her detached, sad, disenchanted, confused and – spinning. However, there came the most random circumstances to put things in perspective and “save” her. First of all we got a dog, a medium labradoodle that’s grown big and scruffy but the most lovable animal ever. Helen is obsessed with her dog and Fern is obsessed with her. Fern gets her out everyday and Helen’s met some great dog people that have been drawing her in little by little to their circles. Add to this the two sweetest, funniest and confident young ladies that have a home 3 houses down and are also obsessed with dogs. Helen’s world has become not quite parenting again but kinda grandparenting, role modeling and full of laughs when they are around on the weekends; and their parents are pretty cool too. Finally, there’s the local historian who has included Helen on various email threads in town for some reason. Helen has been unusually diplomatic and cautious in her responses, mainly because she is incredibly honored to be trusted, included and drawn in to the “underbelly” of historic and some non historic concerns in Beach Haven. Apparently this grand and respected woman in town has no idea what a “loose cannon” Helen can actually be! All of this along with the extra time to try and be present, create a flow, and just live, Helen realizes has been the gift of people (and an animal) coming into her life just when she needed it.

Likewise, John possessed about national politics and the overal state of the world, went full steam into 2018 looking for ways to influence at the local levels. It wasn’t long before he was approached by several locals with concerns (you know we can actually read each other’s minds if it weren’t too scary to! – says Helen). So before you knew it John was gathering people together to talk and get feedback. Some might say he rocked the boat while others have thanked him for giving positive time and effort to try and engage people and build community. In the process he made some new friends and met some great locals with many of the very same concerns. If you know John, he has an extensive Beach Haven postcard collection and he LOVES hearing the history of the town straight out of the mouths of the people that know it best. Therefore his experience with bringing together some of the elders with young families that make a life and a living here really became a gift. And feeling more “at home”, priceless. At the same time John received word that the way he had been doing business with his main client was going to change radically and possibly end. John got an office on the bay here in Beach Haven (!!! – says Helen) where he was able to pull his work team together, add some new talent and transform T2 Partners into something bigger, better, more tech savvy and at the same time more “human” than before. (And people are craving a human touch – says Helen.). What seemed like an “uh oh” turned into a “wow” and what looks like an amazing (crazy “fulfilled” – says John) 2019.

Anyway, the kids are all adults and should hopefully be sending out their own photos, cards and/or letters – (and bending over backwards and buying their mother loads of presents!) but here’s the scoop: John Jr (33) is in Jersey City and enjoys working in an IT job at Horizon Media in NYC.  Corinne (31), her husband, James, and LITTLE GUY !! Archie (2 1/2), are in Costa Mesa.  Shes doing her 5th, 3-month travelling nurse assignment on the West Coast.  Janean (28) lives and works in Philly at the Navy Yard in Design and Production for  Free People and Julia (23) lives and works in Asheville, NC.  Julia works for Banfield animal hospital and loves the hands on work with animals.  BOTH Helen and John love it most when they come to visit them and hopes the future brings many, long, family beach vacations!

During hard times our mantra has basically become “remember:  love, compassion, and respect”.  This seems to calm down those situations which some may feel we should go more “heavy handed” however our mantra ultimately causes US less angst.  This year its been hard to keep that perspective on many levels but as the year comes to an end we feel many new possibilites and opportunites to have honest conversations and to get to know people on a deeper level ahead.

So if you are reading this, we wish you “love, compassion and respect” throughout the holiday season, the coming year – and life.  And lots of opportunities to prosper and receive the gift of people, animals and events into your life just when you need them!

Be well!!  (Hey, look into drinking celery juice, its the new coffee!)

– – Helen & John Harvey