Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! This is my 18th Mother's Day! Wow! I have never thought about it in that way, so I guess you can say I am a recent graduate of Mother High School (it takes you 17-18 years to graduate from High School, so I am assuming that you should be able to take at least that long to become a "seasoned mother"), still making mistakes, but learning as I go along.  But of course I feel that I am definitely graduating with honors :) the Valedictorian of Motherhood High.  My Children are my life and I am working diligently to make them into adults with drive and purpose.  Creative thinkers, willing to go outside the box and shake things up in this world, to leave their mark, for within their mark my signature is evident.  A signature does not change the document and one document can have many different signatures. Each signature having contributed or approving what is written on the page.  What I am putting on my children's pages are the following attributes; courage, humility, love, understanding, grace, knowledge, beauty, joy, trust and happiness.

On this one day that we celebrate Mother's out loud (because I believe Mother's are celebrated daily; every time you look into the eyes of your child).  reflect back on your journey and see how far you have come.  More importantly, look back on your mistakes (and yes, we all have made a few) but forgive yourself for them.  Realizing that motherhood is a journey and no one is born at the destination.  Have a great Mother's Day to any and all that have the title, by birth, adoption or just plain old love.  I salute you all, WE are truly AMAZING people, entrusted with a most precious gift, our children!

What will I do Today to further my writing journey

Some of the ideas given in The Writer Mama include looking at your current roles in life and drawing inspiration and writing material from those roles.  For some reason I have always had a negative connotation with "roles" because I equate them with stereotypical roles that are placed on us, unwilling, due to or circumstances, situations or merely by birth.  As a single African American mother, I am bombarded daily with sting of the stereotypic welfare mother, 4 kids by 5 different men, a leach on society; sucking up resources so that I can stay at home all day watching Soap Opera's and eating Bon Bon's purchased with my food stamps, of course.  Well, while I cannot say that  have never been on assistance, I can say that I have utilized it as a crutch, to get me over a bad point and not as a way of life.  Although I am presently unemployed (through no fault of my own) I am collecting unemployment and I am working on controlling my own destiny by following my passion and writing and living a creatively authentic life that will allow me to support myself and my children.  So while I have to overcoming my own issues with wording and stereotypes.  I am happy to feel as if I am making progress, even by writing this blog I am working towards my ultimate goal.

I have also been wondering, can you start on the current day, when you start reading the Simple Abundance book? Looking through my bookcase I found this book and while looking through it I got to todays date it talks about your home and The Personality of Your Home and as I look around the blank walls in my dining room & living room I can say that my home does not reflect the warmth that I desire. This house is drab and boring (am I drab and boring? I hope not) but the underlying message of this entry and the book is gratitude, being grateful for what you have, in the now.  I can honestly say that even with it's drabness and boring color I am grateful for every wall (boring color and all).  So today I am going to look at my home as my haven and incubating cocoon, protecting and nurturing me until I am ready to blossom into my full potential.
As for my writing exercise; I am going to do as Ms. Katz recommends and look for magazines that are in my  target audience and also scour the newspapers for inspiration.  Until tomorrow and another day of writing ensues.