We were two months into being empty nesters when our youngest son started sending me a flurry of texts. He was attending a college nearby and desperately wanted my car for the weekend. Instead of responding with a simple, I’m …
MOPS for Life: A Mentor Story
More than 20 years ago, I left my job as a Hollywood producer to raise my infant daughter. Those first months were such a struggle because I had no family near and no idea what I was doing. I had …
Saying “Yes”
Photo: MOPS Brazil 2019 I was new to the Denver area with a three-year-old and a newborn. My family lived an hour away, but honestly, some days it felt like the moon as I was learning to navigate being a …
The Three Elements to Transformation
If you know anything about building a fire, you know it takes three elements for a fire to burn: a fuel source (e.g. wood, gasoline, plastic, etc.), heat (like a spark from a lighter), and oxygen. All three elements must …
Reverse Engineering Creativity
Mierle Laderman Ukeles is a famous female artist who is known for challenging the low status of maintenance work – both domestically and also in society. I learned about Ukeles while researching during graduate school several years ago before becoming …
Permission to Dream
For years, it was the longing that had no name, the longing that I wouldn’t allow myself to name. Denied, it took on ugly shapes. She must be exhausted, I would think when I saw a woman with three or …
These Murky Waters
Tonight, I lie here, sending my thoughts into the glowing screen, letting the soft tapping of the keys be the lullaby to the baby on my chest. His breaths are deep and even, but I know if I dare to …
The Powerful Seed of Kindness
“I want to help him mom. It seems like he’s depressed. I’ve never seen somebody who acts like how I used to feel.” He was talking about another boy we’d just seen at the playground who had gone home sad …
The Milestones No Mom Talks About
At your baby shower someone gave you a beautiful, hand-illustrated baby book in which you have diligently recorded each of your child’s major (and lesser) milestones. There are photographs secured with pretty washi tape, little baggies of clipped baby curls …
A Passage From Longing to Motherhood
Eleven years ago, my hips and ribcage framed a small home for a baby to grow. But also alive in my cells were currents of memories and experiences from 36 years of life. There were sunsets on Michigan beaches and …