Mothers Day

Mother's Day is twofold for me.... I honor my Mom and thank and love her for all she has done for me.  And my 2 kids hopefully  do the same for me.  I am blessed to live in the same city as my Mom so Mother's Day has always been a split day for me.....Mornings were about me being a Mom and then evening's about me being the daughter to my Mom.

This year with both my kids away it is about being a daughter. I have an afternoon planned at a craft fair, botanical gardens and dinner with my Mom.  I am blessed to honor her and thank her for the 48 years of support she has given me.  Mind you I will get in a solid AM workout first :)   Julie at a craft fair requires exercise or copious amounts of wine- since I am driving I will go with the workout.

 If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?

Milton Berle

Little Riley

It's hard for me to believe sometimes how really old I am that my kids are grown.  It really does not seem that long ago that I was overwhelmed with hand print cards,  burned toast and messy breakfast in bed as they showered me with their affection.   Most of those days I cherished and loved it all but I have to admit  sometimes I remember thinking about the mess they made and what I would have to do later to clean it up. Or thinking a real Mothers Day gift would be a day alone, just me and a book- wait not really, it would be me and my bike! ,

For those of you who will be showered with homemade cards and gifts and poor attempts at breakfast or a day of "look mommy" "look mommy"  take a deep breath and know....they grow fast and you cannot get that time back.   I am thankful I made a career change when they were  1 and 3 so I could work at home.  I had the best of both worlds - able to maintain a career but see my kids all the time.  Sure I had a few conference calls during a soccer game but it worked.  Finally I started my own business at 8 and 10 so I was setting the calls around their schedules.

We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves.

  by: Henry Ward Beecher

Around that time I discovered triathlon and soon became obsessed.... how convenient that I was working at home and thus could train around their schedules and my work schedule.  I think about my early Ironman training and it was often ride 50 miles to soccer game, watch the game, ride home. Run to soccer, finish run a 1/2 time and catch a ride home.   I did a lot of training alone, starting rides at 5am to be done by 10am to see my kids.  It was about making it work- being the mom I wanted and having my own athletic and career goals. Sometimes I would rework my day so I could do long rides on the weekdays.    We all juggle a lot- whether it is kids, work, parents etc...but we all make choices and getting creative to make "our:" life work is what is amazing about being a human.  We can do it all, it just takes planning, willingness to never sit down and sleep less, but it's doable.

And it is temporary. Just when you think I cannot do triathlon, be a mom and work....the kids are teenagers they hate you and don't want to see you and your time starts to free up.  And they they go to college and you have ALL the time in the world.... Nothing is permanent.



It really is a blink of an eye that the bundles of love soon are tweens, teenagers and then up and out.   I am so sad to think I won't be able to hug or kiss JD or Riley tomorrow but that is overshadowed with the immense pride I have for both of them.  They are both making life happen for them.  They are fiercely independent, for the life of me I don't know where they get that, determined to do this on their own, they rarely ask for any help and have really moved out.   They are both living in their respective cities and plan to stay there.

Before you know it ....they are all grown up



“The best place to cry is on a mother’s arms.” — Jodi Picoult