intro

The end of the year always seems to inevitably bring about reflection.... on my parenting abilities, on my career path, on my ability to balance all of the things that I'm passionate about. So herein lies the reason for this blog.....

A little about me to put things into context.... I'm a 41yr old "single mom" who absolutely hates that term given that although my 12yr old daughter's dad and I aren't together, he has her every other week and is a huge part of her life. Besides, the single mom label is often used to place women in a passive victim box, as if being a single mom automatically means that you need help. Pfffft......

I'm a project manager in the field of environmental engineering which affords me a pretty nice lifestyle for me and my daughter. We live on a tiny island of about 250 full time residents although we commute onto the "big island" for work and school. That in itself is a balancing act although even when I'm sick of hauling my groceries to the house in the rain then hauling garbage off, the sense of BELONGING keeps us here.

Someone once said to me that yes, he could see me being fitting in here because I seemed like a "chop wood, carry water" kind of gal. I like that description.

I'm passionate about playing outdoors.... climbing in the summer (just found this passion this past summer), skiing in the winter and surfing any time there's a good swell. Our house is littered with our surfboards, skis, climbing gear, functional clothing that you can layer, gloves, touques, dog hair......

It's these things that tend to pull my life out of balance because I think at my core I'm still a seasonal-worker, surf/ski-bum. I fight to maintain some semblance of what I'm expected to be as a mom and resist the urge to chuck it all and take my daughter on a surfing/skiing/climbing mission around the world. I'm hoping there will be time for that when she's finished school. For now however, we study/work hard during the week so there's nothing left to do on weekends except play.

So this blog is meant to be a sounding board for my journey to find balance. Thanks for listening.