I just updated my bio, and I thought I’d share it with you.
In the Beginning…
When I first found out I was going to be a mom, I was completely unprepared.
Once the urine-soaked stick changed, the only thing my 30 years of experience provided was complete and utter panic. I wasn’t ready to take on my own child. As a teacher, I nurtured and cared for other people’s children, not my own! Besides, I knew teenagers. It would be years before my baby would be a teenager. What was I going to do until then?
On our daughter’s birth day, after 5 days of labor, they handed her to me. My first thought was, “Don’t drip on my glasses.” As they laid that squalling, writhing, quivering mess on my chest, she stopped mid-yell to look at me. Through the trepidation and exhaustion, we connected. I was a mom. That’s when I apologized for all the mistakes I was going to make. She didn’t seem concerned, and we both really needed a nap.
In the Middle…
I spent the next decade or so worrying about messing up her life. I used all the skills I had developed working in middle schools and high schools, and channeled them into parenting. It wasn’t until I reversed engineered my college-age daughter that I recognized what a fabulous job I had done. I hadn’t ruined her life. She is an impressive, energetic, intelligent, young woman (objectively speaking).
As it turned out, somehow, even with all my fears, I had become an Awesome Mom.
I sure wish I had realized that earlier, but motherhood can be pretty isolating at times. Without someone to hear your thoughts, mistakes never get challenged, and truths never get validated.
I’m sure many of you reading this consider yourselves adequate moms, when in fact you are actually Awesome Moms.
What exactly is an Awesome Mom?
- Awesome Moms build daughters into women, and sons into men.
- Awesome Moms change the world one child at a time.
- Awesome Moms create opportunities for their families.
- Awesome Moms seek knowledge, which is power.
- Awesome Moms make mistakes, and then correct (most of) them.
- Awesome Moms try and try and try. Then they go to sleep, and in the morning they try again.
Now That I Know…
After 27 years of teaching, my mission is to help Awesome Moms (like you and me) connect with each other, recognize their own awesomeness, and get support from other members of our tribe. Today, I share three decades of experience distilled into a unique platform that offers seminars and retreats, online workshops, and of course, my books,
On a more personal note, even though we had followed separate paths, I reunited with, and married my childhood sweetheart, fifteen years after our first kiss. Together we coached our daughter’s AAU Basketball Team, which swept States two years in a row. (Yay!) Later, for several years, our daughter and our money went to college… twice.
I enjoy dabbling with living a sustainable life, creating programs that promote a better way for teenage girls to perceive themselves, writing novels for my Love of Fairs series, dancing, playing outside, and laughing really hard every day. I am a proponent of healthy living and increasing the amount of movement throughout your day. You are invited to visit my blog and have a good laugh about what makes our Mother-Daughter relationships so awesome.
Sign up for my monthly Merry Meddling Newsletter for parenting tips and information! https://info-50e27.gr8.com/
