More Than a Mom

My teenage daughter surprised me last night when she said that she read my blog.  I was even more surprised when she said, "I never knew that you always wanted to be a writer."  Not only did she read my blog, but she paid attention to it!  I responded that there were probably many things about me that she didn't know.  Again she surprised me when she said that I'm supposed to tell her these things because she tells me all of her stuff.  She is absolutely right!  In my quest to be a good mother, I spend alot of time teaching my daughter right from wrong, how to be responsible, how to be kind, loving, forgiving and a million other little things that I think she needs to know before she is ready to leave the nest.  In fact, I recently shared with a friend that I don't think I can "get her ready" in the year and a half that I have before she graduates!  Where has time gone?!  In all of my teaching, I forgot that the best way to teach someone is to show them by living what you teach.  If it's math, work through the problems with them before they attempt them on their own.  If it's science, give them plenty of hands on experiments.  If it's English, give them great books to read and let them talk about them.  If it's life, live it to the fullest so that they can live it with you.  It's okay to put our own hopes and dreams on the back burner while we focus on raising our children, but wouldn't it be even better to talk about our hopes and dreams and work toward accomplishing them while we raise our children?  I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer.  I do know that I want my daughter to have hopes and dreams and run after them with all she's got.  If my earlier reasoning about teaching holds true, and it does, isn't the best way to teach her how to chase those dreams by chasing my own?  Thank you to my daughter for reminding me that it's okay to be more than mom, for giving me permission to chase my dreams and for inviting me to tell her all of my "stuff"!