Walk a Mile in my Shoes

I was asked today what is it like to Walk a Mile in My Shoes?  Honestly I've never thought about it. Let's see I became a single mom at 24 - do I regret it, NO to this day I believe I made the right decision.  I got married five years later and had to wonderful kids out of this marriage that sadly only lasted six years.  Would I change that, NO the fact that I had two wonderful kids makes it all worth it.  Becoming a single mom, showed me how strong I was as a woman, how becoming a MOM was the best thing that happened to me.  I love my three kids; well they are not kids any more, the oldest George is 22, Nicole 16 and Michael 14 - all three will have birthdays later on this year , making me the happiest and luckiest mother in the world.  It has been hard to provide for my kids - to have all the responsibility that normally two parents share - I had to be both mom and dad, to provide financially and emotionally.  I was so afraid of how they would turn out.  I had to work long hours and to be away from them so much was hard.

These are my three blessings, they make it all worth it.  They are amazing, wonderful, caring, loving and most important they give me a reason to be ME, to be thankful, to love being a MOM, they are my reason to be.
They make my life amazing and make walking in my shoes a joy.

I love spending every free moment with them at home or when possible out somewhere.  I've always loved art. Once long, long time ago I wanted to become a fashion designer, I did some sewing and designed a few dresses; for my prom, a friends prom and designed an original wedding dress and everything else the bride needed, the bride was a good friend of mine, but well my dream did not come true but instead became a MOM, and I love it.  I started working with ceramics when I only had my oldest , I had two jobs then and when I was home I would sit to work on ceramics while my son watched tv - he started to sit with me wanting to paint and so he did.  Then after my divorce I started to make jewelry and then just taking in new crafts as challenges to see if I could make them and well now 11 years later I'm still crafting, spending every free minute with my kids - they too like to be creative - they also love music so in our home you will either hear them play music, sing or draw and me well you will always see me crafting.

Sure it has been hard to care for my kids but they have made it easy, they are my love, my life.  Crafting is that extra ingredient that makes my life complete - having my kids in my life and they allowing me to be ME is great, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Today I was talking with my boss's wife - she works here too.  I made a pair of earrings for her daughter to wear for graduation - she was amazed I made these in one day (evening) and that they matched her dress perfectly - well I had some extra fabric, so I made a few roses added some tulle and glued them to a head band, I gave this to her today and as I showed her a carpet I'm crocheting for my daughter that is made out of  old t-shirts, she asked me if I had a life, if I went out with friends, if there was a special man in my life and my answer was NO, to all. I told her all I do is stay home with my kids and craft - guess you can say that I'm married to my crafts, at least for now.

I'm happy spending all my free time with my kids and crafting away every day, this makes my life complete - to be a mom and a crafter is all I need for now, it makes walking on high heels every day a piece of cake.

This is a picture of what I have in my office - I'm always adding something to it, today I added the hanging flower topiary my son Michael made for me for mother's day.  I have pictures and cards given to me by my kids and family - gifts they made for me through out the years, and lots of flowers that I've made during my lunch brakes form toilet paper rolls, grocery and brown paper bags, nylon, duck tape, clay, well just about anything.  this collage represents me, what is important to me, why walking in my shoes is not all bad, I would say it's ALL good!!!