About Me
Hi, I am Deborah LaHaela
Welcome! I’m so happy you are here!
Slight Right 47? What kind of a blog name is that? Several summers ago, my family and I were caravanning to a beach house in Oregon when Waze unexpectedly advised us to take an alternate faster route. Trusting the all-knowing Waze, her GPS voice directed us to take the upcoming slight right onto road 47. We did, however, my mother who had been following us, continued on the original route. Thinking we’d made the better decision, I giggled to myself realizing we were going to cut out a significant chunk of time from our journey and we would arrive much earlier than her. Several hours into our journey, my son pipes up and announces, “That’s one heck of a Slight Right 47! Where even are we? I don’t see the beach!” As the road twisted and wound through the maze of trees and mountainous terrain, we wondered if we’d made a mistake in taking the ‘faster’ route. As we finally arrived at our destination, my mom pulled alongside our car at the exact same time. What? How could that be? I learned, our lives are filled with endless detours and unexpected ‘slight right 47’s’ and yet, it is not a race. We end up exactly where we are supposed to be.
My most recent Slight Right 47 was when COVID-19 hit and my long-time hospitality career I thought I would retire with, came to a screeching halt. I am a contractor with HelmsBriscoe where I find the perfect hotel (globally) for corporations and organizations looking for meeting and/or event space and negotiate the contract for favorable terms and mitigate risks for my clients. Suddenly, I was faced with clients no longer traveling and hotels closing faster than I could count. Left reeling, I began soul-searching for a new venture and thus, Slight Right 47 was born.
Slight Right 47 is a compilation of honest and vulnerable stories of navigating my own unexpected journey through life and I hope to inspire and help other Mommas and bring us together. We need each other now more than ever.
I have called the very wet and beautiful Pacific Northwest my home for 46 years. My average day starts with a kiss from my amazing love, hugs and the best snuggles from my two youngest kiddos, and a steaming hot cup of Seattle java before firing up my MacBook Air. From there, it is a non-stop chaotic and beautiful dance of working, homeschooling my ADHD son and Dyslexic daughter, balancing kid’s baseball, soccer, dance, martial arts, and their social calendar (pre-Covid…and seriously…how are they this socially busy?), meal planning for the family while frantically trying to remember if I have gluten and dairy-free options for my boys (!!!), adding another item to my Amazon cart, answering another email, negotiating hotel contracts, (Did I check my voice mail? probably not…please just text me!), Facebook, texting my daughters who are away at college and hopelessly trying to avoid the inevitable hysterectomy that my adenomyosis and uterine fibroids are incessantly demanding. Phew!
The end of my day varies from board games with the family, laughing until it hurts with my besties, Zoom game nights, bringing back 80’s hair metal with local tribute bands (pre-COVID!), binging Netflix or true crime podcasts….and a stiff martini (or three?) before collapsing into my bed, ready to face tomorrow.
If you relate to any of this, let’s connect!
Hugs,
Deborah
My secret to balancing parenting, homeschool, and life!
- Above all, I ensure my Love and I have alone time to reconnect. Parenting is hard and we need each other!
- Blast loud 80's hair metal often! Music and dancing is the key to my balance!
- Indulge in an adult beverage with my Love. No guilt!
- Listen to crazy true crime podcasts and escape my reality for a bit.
