{"title":"My Mia Moments","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"highlights-1","title":"Highlights","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHighlights\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eInspired by Laila \u0026amp; Miles's journal entries\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mia Moments","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43121329045540,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0227\/6615\/7860\/files\/Important_Square_Images_1_7630ff5d-a7c4-4f7b-9322-9f9394cb76dd.png?v=1768612337"},{"product_id":"bad-ones","title":"Bad Ones","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eBad Ones\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eInspired by Naomi \u0026amp; Sienna's journal entries\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Mia Moments","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43876016488484,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0227\/6615\/7860\/files\/Important-Square_Images__20260324_221443_0000.png?v=1775139441"},{"product_id":"never-said-1","title":"Never Said","description":"\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNever Said\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eInspired by Jalen \u0026amp; Imani’s journal entries\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Mia Moments","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43876023926820,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0227\/6615\/7860\/files\/Important-Square_Images__20260324_221536_0000.png?v=1774407051"},{"product_id":"entry-001-miles-carter","title":"Miles Carter","description":"\u003cp\u003eDear Journal,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI do not think I understood happiness when I was little. I do not mean that in a sad way. I mean I did not know enough to question it. Back then, happiness was small and immediate. It was warm air on my face, sugar on my fingers, my sneakers sticking to the ground a little from spilled soda and melted candy, and that cheap wooden airplane in my hand feeling like the most important thing I owned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI still remember that day at the theme park so clearly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sun was low enough to make everything look golden, and the whole place felt alive in the kind of way only children and summer can understand. The Ferris wheel looked bigger than the sky. The roller coasters twisted behind me like giant metal promises. People were everywhere, but none of it felt loud or stressful the way crowds do now. It felt exciting. Safe. Full. I was standing there with that little toy plane stretched out in front of me like I really believed I could launch it and it would carry every dream I had into the air.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd maybe that was the first version of me I ever loved without trying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe did not know anything about bills.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe did not know what it felt like to stare at a bank account and do the math three different times, hoping the numbers would change if he looked long enough. He did not know about overdue notices, rent rising faster than peace, or waking up at three in the morning with that heavy feeling in his chest because tomorrow is already waiting for him and he is not ready. He did not know how tiring it is to smile through stress at work because everybody depends on you being steady, even when you are quietly unraveling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe did not know how adulthood can make life feel like one long hallway of responsibility.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLately, everything feels like it needs something from me. My job needs more hours, more patience, more focus. My family needs more of me than I know how to give without going empty. My phone is always lit up with reminders, missed calls, emails, things to pay, things to fix, things I forgot, things I need to remember. Even rest does not feel like rest anymore, because the whole time I am resting, I am thinking about what I should be doing instead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI miss when joy did not have to be scheduled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI miss when looking forward to something was enough to carry me through the day. Now even the things I want feel far away. I keep telling myself I need a real break. Not a day off spent catching up on chores. Not one quiet night scrolling on my couch too tired to enjoy it. A real break. A trip somewhere with clear water, slow mornings, no deadlines, no alarms, no pretending I am less overwhelmed than I am. Somewhere I can hear myself think again. Somewhere I can remember that life is still supposed to feel lived, not just managed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI keep saying I will plan it when things calm down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut things do not calm down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey just change shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is the part nobody tells you. You spend so much of adulthood waiting for the moment everything finally settles, and for a lot of us, it never really does. You just get better at carrying what is heavy. Better at hiding it. Better at laughing in the middle of it. Better at moving forward while tired.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is why this memory keeps finding me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat little boy holding a toy plane in the middle of a crowded park had no idea what was ahead of him, but he had something I have been trying to find my way back to ever since: lightness. Wonder. The ability to be fully inside a moment without measuring what it cost him or what came next.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI do not want my childhood back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut I do want that feeling back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want one afternoon where my shoulders are not up by my ears. One week where my mind is not split into ten directions. One trip where I can walk slowly, eat something good, look at the sky, and not feel guilty for being still.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaybe that is what growing up really is — not losing the child you were, but noticing how badly you need to visit him sometimes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd if I am being honest, I think I need that visit now more than ever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause when I look at that boy in my memory, smiling with his hand in the air and his whole heart wide open, I do not just see simpler times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI see proof that joy once came naturally to me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that means it might find its way back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca title=\"Journals\" href=\"https:\/\/mymiamoments.com\/collections\/journal-entries\"\u003eBrowse More Journal Entries →\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Mia Moments","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44016425795620,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0227\/6615\/7860\/files\/Important_Square_Images_1_7630ff5d-a7c4-4f7b-9322-9f9394cb76dd.png?v=1768612337"}],"url":"https:\/\/mymiamoments.com\/collections\/my-mia-moments.oembed","provider":"My Mia Moments","version":"1.0","type":"link"}