A Mom's Life

Easter. A Holy day. A time of celebration in the name of the Savior. I guess. What do I know? I didn't go to church today, nor have I gone in well over a year. I was raised Catholic by someone who was not raised Catholic. My mom married into the faith and decided to keep carrying the Catholic torch while my Dad decided to never again step foot in the church for worship. Every Saturday afternoon, I would ride with my mom to church, carrying my baby doll, Guiseppe. I would rise when everyone else rose, and sat when everyone else sat. I would shake hands and say "Peace Be With You" even if it was totally weird to shake hands with all the strangers around me. I would sing to by baby and sit on the knee rest. After, we would stop at the gas station and I would get Skittles. It was fun and it seemed to make my mom happy. I attended CCD on Mondays after school. I would listen to the stories about Jesus and I learned that it was important to be a good person. I learned there w...

Before I had kids, I knew nothing about raising kids. There is no book that truly helps a person understand how to gracefully, and stresslessly, succeed at being a parent. Parenthood is experiential learning at its best. We experiment, reflect, and try again. And again. And again. Some days are better than others. What I am writing is no shock to anyone, anywhere. As parents, we provide children with support and guidance, we share stories that are the foundation for morals, we act as role models, we set rules and boundaries. We reward for jobs well done and offer repercussions for bad choices. We comfort and cradle and lift up. We love. We forgive. We do this day after day, year after year. And nobody ever told us how to. We just do it, some days better than others. Another fact we all know is that our children are not us. They are their very own people, with their own personalities, strengths, and quirks, who make their own decisions. They are people. Young people, with brains tha...