I’ve learned that sometimes, when you can’t organize your thoughts well enough to begin writing, you can just start in the middle somewhere and write. I’ve always enjoyed writing. I don’t think I was ever particularly good at it until I started working on my doctorate. In high school and college, I wrote angst-filled, woe-is-me teen poetry. Thoughts like daggers, cutting new wounds…that sorta thing. I found it to be very cathartic, and in that moment of creation, I almost convinced myself that what I had written was special and unique. Turn on any early 90s grunge song, and I’d learn differently. But I think what I’m about to write is different. What I hope to accomplish is to discover a sense of purpose for my life through the retelling of others’ stories (accompanied by my own).
If who we are is defined by what we are, I can safely say that parenting has changed my ‘who’ to the core. So while my experiences differ greatly from those of the families I will illustrate to my readers, my journey has brought me here, too – as an educator and now as a mother.
Fall 1998
I was walking down 13th street after class one day. Time for my afternoon splurge. The creamy guacamole with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, accompanied by crispy corn chips. I saw the sign outside that said “Now Hiring.” I did not leave Broward Hall that morning thinking I’d be applying for a job that afternoon, but here I stood, filling out an application. I handed it off to someone who I can guarantee was either covered in tattoos, piercings, or wore those black-framed glasses. And so there I worked that entire school year, usually three nine-hour shifts a week. I was able to put down like one taco, one massive burrito, a bag of chips, and several cups of lemonade each shift, and I weighed in at about 110 pounds. Ah, how easy it was being 19 years old.
Fall 1998
The news of a baby girl arriving was beyond exciting, especially since they weren’t even sure they could get pregnant after her various procedures and a miscarriage. But to their surprise, it happened without any medical interventions or fertility treatments. She announced the news that it was a girl to her husband by purchasing a little girl’s outfit and sticking it in their closet. Together, they shed tears of joy to celebrate how genuinely happy they were.
