Mom With A Pen » Single Mom

Raising healthy adults? I don’t know!

Single Mom — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:49:43 +0000

My daughters crack me up–when they’re not fighting. I turned on the Academy Awards at the exact moment they were listing all the movies that had nominations. My 9-year-old got excited when she saw Avatar listed. But was soon distressed and asked, “Where’s Percy Jackson or The Chipmunks?”

The origin of “cat calls”

Single Mom — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:02:14 +0000

Spending time down on the coast is one of my favorite things. I don’t mind humidity, I love salt water in the air, and I enjoy jogging down at the working shrimp harbor. It’s like being on a movie set, and if you joined me you’d believe that everyone was typecast and life isn’t really like this–but it is. And that’s what I love about it. These shrimpers are so true to themselves.

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My Newton “Loco”motive

Single Mom — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:59:47 +0000

I hated physics in school. Math and science are not my strong subjects–I thank God there’s a calculator on my iPhone! The irony is that I’m a walking physics lesson (well, I guess we all are), but the degree to which I live out Newton’s First Theory of Motion is scary. The theory goes something like this, “An object in motion stays in motion until it meets an object of equal or greater force.”

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Run Forrest Run

Single Mom — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:38:55 +0000

There are days where every impulse in me is saying get those running shoes on! Yesterday was one of those days, So, with a steady drizzle falling down, I put on a ballcap and hit the roads. Friends, family and strangers tell me I’m crazy for my running habits. I just smile. I can’t deny that from their perspective I probably do seem crazy. What most don’t understand is that it’s how God has wired me. I don’t do it to compete in races (I’ve only done two in the last seven years) and I don’t do it to lose weight (although I do like that benefit). It’s just what I do. And since it was a warm rain, it was actually refreshing. But less than a mile in I started having my Forrest Gump impulses, and I realized that this was going to be a long one–but not long enough.

My NBA dancer twin

Single Mom — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:52:59 +0000

I apparently have a twin in town, and she either was or is a dancer for the NBA Spurs. I feel bad for the girl on one level because I most likely don’t live up to the hair, makeup and fashion skills of someone who dances at the Spurs basketball games. But that has not stopped a handful of guys from approaching me.

Mini Cool

Single Mom — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:51:19 +0000

Being a single mom is an oxymoron. Most of the time I just feel like a moron, but that’s beside the point. There’s very little about being single and being a mom that correlate. When I bought my fully loaded Honda Odyssey during the final months of my marriage, I thought I was the bomb with the clicker that opened both doors. I could just herd my little one in and throw the baby in the car seat without doing any yoga moves.

Climbing a dark stairwell

Single Mom — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:56:29 +0000

It’s normal to hear a 5:30 a.m. alarm ringing, but on a Saturday morning while suffering from some sort of head cold…it was not welcome. I was supposed to be downtown at the Tower of the Americas by 6:30, and I hit snooze at least twice–each time wondering why did I do this?!

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The Contigency

Single Mom — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Trusting in God, and finding my worth in Him are two of my biggest stumbling blocks. I’m like the running back that takes half the team to tackle, I just keep moving my legs and staying on my feet in the hope that I’ll break free. I’ve been told for years to slow down, and just recently had a good friend tell me that again.

Hope Floats?

Single Mom — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:40:40 +0000

If hope floats, how did mine get tied to a sinker?

I love to go fishing, just sitting outside–sometimes on the dock, a boat or a kayak–enjoying nature with the anticipated hope that I’m going to catch a fish. In Texas I’m good at catching saltwater catfish that can slice your hand open with its scales–that’s a lot of fun when you’re trying to get it off your hook. In Virginia I’m great at catching croaker, which is really just a bait fish but a lot of fun to listen to it sound like a bullfrog–hence the name “croak”er. But as for a delicious red fish, mahi mahi or anything I’d order at a restaurant, I’ve never caught a single one in my years of fishing.

Kickboxing in church

Single Mom — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:15:34 +0000

I loved this weekend, it was one of those perspective realignment moments. It started with teaching about 50 girls kickboxing. I actually felt sorry for the girls because as my former spinning/boot camp students can attest, they always knew when I needed to work through some emotions because they would get a tough workout. Halfway through the class, my regular students would say, “What’s up?” I’d say, “Why do you ask?” And they’d say their legs were about to fall off…ha ha ha. But the girls Friday probably got a break from what I would’ve normally done because I needed a pocket to keep the microphone on, and the only pocket I had was on my sweatshirt. Then, I never thought about asking for the stage lights to be turned off, so between my sweatshirt and the lights it was probably over a 100 degrees up there on the stage…sweat was literally flying off my face. Luckily, none of the girls were within sweat-shot distance. But they had no problem pointing out that I looked really tired and sweaty!