What if I told you that up until quite recently I hated to write? I was perfectly adequate at it but nonetheless, I dreaded and loathed it. As a young student, I do however remember loving the process—gathering information, organizing notes, designing a cover or finding pictures to illustrate what I was researching (is it any wonder I became a graphic designer?) I can still picture and even smell the reference desk at the old Santa Monica Library, looking through the Index of Periodicals, filling out the request form with a golf pencil, handing it to the librarian, and excitedly waiting for the stack of magazines she would hand back to me. There has always been something comforting to me about organizing, about preparing my materials, note taking, tabs and binders and index cards—but turning all that into a finished piece of clear and coherent prose—now that terrified me.
Flash forward thirty or so years and here I type…fledgling blogger. Life is ironic.
What if I told you that I have few accessible memories of my childhood, but that I know in my soul that it was good. Far from perfect—but good. My brain is funny that way and I often wish I had more of the photographic type. Maybe that’s why I take lots and lots of pictures now. My days consist of creating new memories, as much for myself as for my children—as I embrace the complex and delightful role that is “mom” to a teenager and a toddler. I laugh a lot more. I cry a lot more. I live a lot more than I would without them.
What if I told you that as a young mom I always fantasized about homeschooling, but never had the guts to try it until my sister-in-law, Kim, grabbed my hand and said, “Let’s go!” I’ve been a bit of a coattail-rider ever since but have become fully convinced of what a fantastic and worthy journey it is. I discovered personal passions along the way and realize now that history is most certainly not boring. “Education” has been emancipated from the word “school” and has become a lifestyle, not just a prescribed sequence of subjects and standards.
Truth of the matter, I'm an unsalaried full-time educator. I realize that every thing I say and do with my kids is part of their education, and part of my own. For our teenager, we’re currently sojourning through traditional high school but reaping rich rewards at every level because we chose to homeschool—academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. For our toddler, we’re quite honestly just trying to keep up.
Graphic design pays the bills, but I’ve never been one to wear just one hat. Does any woman? One of the greatest gifts I have received from my parents is the belief that who you are and what you do never has to be stagnant. Change is good.
So here I go again.
