Your life changes in a moment the second you hear that first cry from your newborn. I consider myself the worlds okay-est mom, as the joke goes. I love my kids more than life itself but being a human in charge of smaller humans is really hard. I think the most important thing is understanding that they are little people with lots of emotions (just like adults) and making sure they have a voice in this big world. I’m equal parts lenient and strict. Fun but often somewhat lazy. I’m always up for a hug or a cuddle, or a shoulder to cry on, and I love just hanging out with my girls as they are both really cool. But I’m really bad at things like homework, and I barely feel like a responsible adult myself a lot of the time, and yet here I am raising children who need to go out in the world and survive and thrive. Thankfully, both girls are independent and assertive like their mom, grandmas, and great grandmas before them.
Probably the best thing for our family was the choice to purchase a vacation condo in Rocky Point. We have this special place that’s all our own and we’ve made so many memories here and we continue making new memories, and hopefully there will be another generation of us making their own memories. It’s funny, when we first came down in 2007 and bought our condo, we knew our daughter (now daughters) would grow up coming to Mexico. The reality of it now that my oldest is 20 and driving herself down to visit us is absolutely crazy! It’s amazing to think about how far we’ve come in 15 years, and it’s happened in the blink of an eye.
I feel so blessed that my dream of traveling to and living in Mexico has become a reality.
When we first started coming down to Rocky Point, we spent most of our time at the resort swimming in the pool or hanging out at the beach. We slowly started venturing out into town and doing all the tourist activities. Then in 2013, along came our youngest, and our plan to eventually move here full-time was born. The benefit to raising children and traveling, especially traveling to other countries, and introducing them to other cultures, is that they develop a broader view of the world and are open to more experiences and challenges, resulting in more rewarding experiences.
As my oldest became a teen, she wanted to come less and less to Rocky Point because she had more and more weekend plans in Phoenix, and her friends usually couldn’t come down. However, now that she and her friends are all over 18, and are technically adults, she began visiting more often. Thankfully, now that we live in Rocky Point, she comes down several times a year, she was here in April and is coming back again for Mother’s Day! I guess the litmus test for if you are a good mom (or the okay-est) is when your kids still call you every day, or drive 4 hours to see you, or really have anything to do with you because those teenage years are really touch and go, lol.
And one day, too soon, our youngest will have to decide if she wants to live in Mexico, or go back to the US, or something altogether different. But I will always be there for her, just like I am for her sister even though we are four hours and an international border apart.
This quote about motherhood absolutely sums it up for me:
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. (Rajneesh)
And I believe my children may someday say this about me:
Our mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people we’ve ever met. (Marguerite Duras)
