Who am I really?

I’m a teacher. It wasn’t my first choice of professions. I wanted to be an artist, or an actress. I didn’t even originally go to school for teaching. My first choice was law. (I did poorly in those classes.) My second was social work. (Omigosh, no.) I then went to school for English (I was going to be a famous author.)They said most college students change their major five times, and I did!

I had ridiculous ideals back then. The world was my oyster, and I was the the pearl. I thought I was special and important. Maybe even smarter and prettier than others.

I scoff at this now.

For years, I sent out manuscripts, tried out at casting calls, and did some very minor acting and modeling. I remember sewing my own dress for the Oscars. It was sequin, and I sewed it by hand.

I laugh at this too.

Eventually, I set out to get a masters degree in Psychology. Mission accomplished. I never got my license, so I can’t actually practice in this field. 

Yes, more laughter.

So I settled into teaching. I really do enjoy it. There are so many moments that make me smile. Like the time one of my students brought her family’s entire roast to school and proceeded to eat like it was normal to eat an entire roast by yourself in one sitting. Or the time another student called me a “teacher princess”. That is my favorite title so far.

My students make me laugh. They think really random things. Like Christmas is Santa’s birthday. Like bacon doesn’t come from pigs, it comes from a grocery store. That sea dragons are not real, but the Easter Bunny is. That I look like I’m on my deathbed without makeup, but I’m pretty with it.

I have considered wearing my Oscar dress to school along with a tiara and taking my rightful place as a teacher princess.

Moral MOMent: We can make a million plans, but more often than not, our calling finds us.

What is your special title? What were you called to do?

So Santa's Birthday is coming up! Hahahaha

Motherhood is not having your cake and eating it too!

There are many days I struggle with the idea of being a mom. Maybe because I didn't push my kids out of my V like a torpedo flying through the cosmos. They left scars. I show my littlest one my scar and tell him, I made you, you exited here like a little performer - all bursts of energy, sunshine, and rainbows. He smiles at this.

He's also the same kid that when he's in the stall, and I'm peeing, tries to find the source of my stream. He will say, "Uh-oh, yours is gone. Who took it?"

Good question kid. I have always felt I was punished for being a woman. If my period wasn't enough to convince me, society cramps that require ridiculous amounts of ibuprofen do the trick. First cramp, I make less than my male counterparts (even though I have more education). This phenomenon has occurred in about 90% of the jobs I've held.

Another cramp, there are so many expectations placed on women. We do a lot. We do a lot everyday and no one seems to notice. Is it because everything we do is behind the scenes? We are natural born multi-taskers. Does this make it fair?

Have you ever noticed the way women can laugh and cry at the same time? Crazy, right? Multi-taskers.

So many times as women, we put our needs on the bottom of the to-do list. We don't take care of ourselves. We forget to love ourselves. We compare each other. We make whole Venn Diagrams about how we are similar and different to other moms and then we rank ourselves on this scale that doesn't even exist. 

We should just stop comparing. Stop judging others. Stop judging ourselves.


My eldest son once stole a classmate's birthday cake. It was one of those individual birthday cakes for the birthday girl. I told him, "Go wait in line for a piece of cake."

Only, he didn't want to wait. He grabbed her little, personalized, beautiful cake and started walking to his seat with it. Of course her mom saw, quickly grabbed the cake in true ninja-mom style, and offered him a piece. There was an eruption of laughter.

My son was unfazed. He wanted to have cake and eat it too, even if it wasn't "his" cake. 

So many times in life, we make the cake, but we don't get to eat it, i.e. diet, expectations, putting others first.

Moral MOMent: We should reward our own hard work. No one hands out awards for being decent parents, but they should. Hey, at least a participation ribbon for just showing up. 😆