by Tara Pringle Jefferson
My mom told me regularly over the years that she wanted to be an actress. It was her childhood dream. She wanted to be famous, see her name in lights, walk the red carpet at awards show and looked surprised when the envelope was opened and they called her name.
Instead, she’s a nurse. Working two jobs and has been for the past”....seven years?
What happened between then and now, never mind that Hollywood only accepts a select few, and generally those whose skin contains only a teensy bit of melanin?
Well, she went to high school. Fell in love with her high school boyfriend. Went to college. Stayed in love with her high school boyfriend. Graduated from college and they got married. 14 months later, I was born. Two years later, my younger sister was born. A year and a half later, my youngest sister was born.
And now she is a nurse.
My mom does not really like her jobs. Neither of them.
But even though she’s overworked and underpaid, she still manages to go into work and take care of those patients like they are her parents. She’s saved more lives than I can count. That, to me, makes what she does awe-worthy, even if she isn’t on the red carpet, or no one else gives her accolades.
I’ve wondered how my mom has felt about some of the events in her life. It wasn’t until I became a mom myself that I realized my mother was an actual person, who had desires and interests and dreams that didn’t necessarily include me or my two sisters.
I wished blogging was more of a thing back then that it is now because it would be totally cool to read through her archives and see how events in my life appeared in her eyes.
When she decided to quit her job working in HR and go to nursing school, she was juggling a full course load and three young kids and a husband who frequently traveled for work. How did she manage everything and not lose her mind?
Or when she got laid off from a nursing job when I was in high school and only three months away from starting college? How did she have faith that everything would work out and we’d still be able to afford my tuition?
Or when I shocked her with the news that yes, she’d be a grandma at 45? I would kill to read her blog post the day after she got the news.
I’m not sure what her blog would have said but I know she loved us. She might not have made it to Hollywood, but she’s a star in my heart. (Corny, yes, but you know what I mean!)
If your mom (or dad) had a blog while you were growing up, would you want to read it? What do you think it would have said?
Tara Pringle Jefferson is a freelance writer, blogger and PR professional living in Ohio with her husband and two kids. She’s also Managing Editor of BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com. Follow her on Twitter or check out her blog for her insights on what it means to be a mom, wife, student, writer, and about three other labels she’s too tired to remember.
Great post, very interesting!
I would love to read a blog written by either of my parents. I would like to know what they were thinking when they decided to leave their country and all of their family and friends to come to this country. I would like to know if my mom had dreams that have been yet unfulfilled or if my dad wonders what his life would have been able to follow his dream of being a doctor.
You were spot on that we often don’t realize that our parents are actually people until we have kids of our own.
Great post, very interesting!
I would love to read a blog written by either of my parents. I would like to know what they were thinking when they decided to leave their country and all of their family and friends to come to this country. I would like to know if my mom had dreams that have been yet unfulfilled or if my dad wonders what his life would have been able to follow his dream of being a doctor.
You were spot on that we often don’t realize that our parents are actually people until we have kids of our own.
Not sure if I’d want to read my parents thoughts like that. I’d feel like I was prying into an old fashioned private diary (even though it would be on a public forum). Personally I appreciate the mystery of not having known everything about them too soon in life.
You’re right about not thinking of your parents as people with their own desires until you become one though. Kind of in line with repeating all their phrases to your children (LOL).
Great post and I’m sharing the link.
I would have LOVED to read my mother’s blog. I’m sure if she had one, most of her thoughts would have been worries, spiritual philosophy and cute happening with us kids. Regardless of what would have been included, I would have loved to have that connect and understood my mothers way of thinking and find out exactly how that thinking evolved her into the woman she is today. Great post!
Very intriguing post! I don’t think I’d want to read a blog written by either of my parents. That’s because I know that, even though they’re just fine, they’re not living their dreams. I think, on some level, I would blame myself.
LOL @ the post. Just the thought of my dad knowing how to turn on a computer tickles me. I would not have wanted my dad to have a blog while we were growing up. As KnotChocolate stated, not all parents get to live their dream and kids feel it’s their fault. We already knew our dads pain growing up, it was not a secret, but to see it typed out in words would have been too much. Oddly enough had my mom had a blog in the short yrs. she was with us, it would have been a good read. Moms are the back bone of the family, naturing, yet can find humor in all things good, bad or unfair.
i know my mother was not living her dream, so it probably would have pained me to have read her blog but i would take a peek…