It’s really fun to say, “Hey look I know that person, I talk to him every day and so far he’s never bitten me.”

“Good morning. How are you?” is said a thousand times a day by strangers in passing and is usually followed with a cursory, “I’m fine, how are you?” But what if you’re not fine? What if you’re the opposite of fine? Do you stand on the sidewalk and tell your life story to a complete stranger or do you keep on the fake smile, lie and say you’re good, and go on your way. We lie. So why even ask?

I recently met a woman who didn’t take my, “I’m okay,” answer and she stopped and took the time to listen. Actually listen. A complete stranger. You don’t find people who honestly want to know how you’re doing, they’re busy and in a hurry and trying to be polite. But she did. And not only that first day that I saw her, but every time I saw her again she listened, advised, hugged.

Is it her life experiences that have given her the insight to know when someone is in need? Now, with a budding friendship where she gives me coffee, watches my son some mornings and even lets me cry to her on the phone, I worry about taking advantage of this wonderful woman’s seemingly endless supply of compassion.

I used to be one of those people and I wonder where along the way I lost that compassion and became so jaded and cynical. I’m hoping that my new life will get me back to the kind, considerate person I used to be. I’m hoping my old friends know I’m going through a rough time and will get back there and my new friends will figure out that this bitterness really isn’t me. And I’m hoping Jacky knows just how much I treasure her friendship.

In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies

Today I spent the day with my daughter in a paddle boat. 2 hours in a boat on the lake, paddling and laughing and sweating our asses off. I wasn’t thinking about what bullshit my life has been lately, or freaking out about not being able to find a job, or about the stress of hoping to move before school starts. I just enjoyed the sun, the scenery, the experience and my girl. This was the first time in quite a while that I’ve been able to just let go and it was much needed.

Life is a battle and you either enter it armed or you surrender immediately

Dealing with life and being a mom sometimes can be too much. Kids seem to have a knack for driving you crazy when things are the hardest. I just want to shake them and yell, “Don’t you know what I’m going through??” But of course they don’t know what I’m going through; we spend our lives protecting our children from what we go through. We cry behind closed doors, we don’t throw things when we want to, we paint on those fake smiles. We’re just hoping to shield them from some of the pain we are dealing with. Everyone says life never gives you more than you can handle, I’m here to tell you that sometimes…it DOES!

It's like a cow opinion, it doesn’t matter, its moo

I have a gray hair. No it’s not my first and it definitely isn’t my last. It is, however, the first one I’ve left alone. I haven’t tweezed it, I haven’t dyed it, and I silently nod to it each morning in the bathroom mirror. Perhaps I’m hoping it will age me some to outsiders. I’m loud and silly and rarely taken seriously by other parents who are ten years my senior. Yes, my daughter is approaching double digits and I’m still in my twenties. “TAKE ME SERIOUSLY,” my gray hair exclaims, while I tug-of-war with the third graders. I’m the cool mom all the kids love and many mothers sneer at. “Well look at my gray hair,” I say to those “grown-up” moms. “I’m just as much of a mother as you are.”