When I decided to ask Jess to interview me, I didn’t think about the fact that she’s a professor and likely to ask questions that would really make me think. :o)
1. What is the greatest challenge about being a stay-at-home-mom?
For me, the greatest challenge is maintaining a presence in the “adult world”. Spending time with my kids, running, and sleeping take up the largest portions of my time. When you add in the time it takes for cleaning, shopping, laundry,volunteering for a moms group and at the kids’ schools, etc, very little time is left in the day. I try to at least read the headlines most days and I have a list of books I’m slowly working my way through, but some weeks (like the last when at least two people in the house were sick at any given time) I’m lucky if I get a chance to check the weather channel. And, quite frankly, when I’m tired and it’s the end of the day, I’m more likely to read blogs or some fitness magazine than real news. It’s getting better as the kids get older, but it’s a bit disconcerting for me to always be behind on what’s going on in the world (especially since I spent a large part of my working career as a reference librarian).
My favorite race experience is the annual Turkey Trot 5K in my neighborhood. It’s a very competitive race, as lots of people come from outside the neighborhood, but it’s also very much a neighborhood event. It starts at a local church, runs past my house, loops through the neighborhood and ends at a local park. I get to wave at my family as I run past and then when I’m done, I get to cheer on all of our friends who do it as a walk. I love that it combines my love of running with a very social event and happens to help two groups I’d support anyways: a local homeless shelter and a home for women and children escaping abusive situations. Win-win all around.
I’d like to think I’m a lot like my favorite beer – the Alaskan Smoked Porter. It’s a sweet yet strong beer with lots of hidden undertones that continues to improve with aging. ;o)
The best part of living near DC is the diversity of activities, opportunities, and people. Jones’ school has kids from 30+ different countries. On a daily basis, we interact with people from different cultures and different religions. Within metro or driving distance, it is possible to find just about any activity you could possibly want to do. Museums are mostly free, thanks to the Smithsonian. You can’t go more than a couple of miles without running into a memorial to something. We are lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that is much like a small town in that we know our neighbors and can walk to restaurants, grocery stores, parks, schools, etc, yet we can get to cultural activities (Monster Jam? LOL) with only a bit more effort. Really, the only negatives to living here are the traffic, the cost of housing and the fact that most of our extended family does not live here.
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
If you are still coughing, don’t worry about running, just rest up and get better.I like learning about people through questions like these. Thx for sharing. 🙂
You aren’t kidding about these being tough questions! I agree that being a SAHM can be very isolating. It’s difficult to connect with other adults and keep up with what is happening. I like your answer to the question regarding what lesson you’d like to teach your kids. That’s a hard one to answer! Good job, good questions.
Great answers!
Great interview, LOL on #3. And #5 is excellent advice for all of us. It’s so easy to get caught up in the pursuit of happiness or whatever it is you’re after, and miss out on what’s actually happening in your daily life. It’s like that quote, “live is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” Thanks for the reminder to slow down and enjoy what we have.
I so agree about #4 and it’s one of the reasons I miss living closer to the city– moving out to the ‘burbs we still have considerable diversity but not the neighborhoods. As for #5 what a great lesson– one that sometimes I wish some of the adults I know and love acknowledged more often.
I agree with you on number 5 – what a great lesson. Your Turkey Trot sounds fun! You can interview me, if you have time. 🙂
Wow, awesome answer on #5! This lesson gets harder to teach as they become teenagers. Feel free to interview me….it’ll keep me from blogging about my painful P90X exploits! 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on those questions!