Hi! Welcome to Juggling Work Mama! I hope you enjoy this inaugural post, where I’ll introduce you to myself and my circus. You can also learn more About Me.
Up until Freshman year of high school, I wanted to be a nun. In sixth grade I remember writing to the Carmelite sisters and receiving a packet of pamphlets and other information in the mail. I am not sure I ever made it through all of the information they sent me; maybe a Rosary or a little token of some sort would have gone farther in the mind of 12-year-old.
Then I entered high school, where I discovered boys and a love for babysitting. The convent suddenly became a distant phase, while my desire for a husband and family grew. By the time I graduated college I wanted to be married, but every guy I thought was THE ONE didn’t feel the same way about me. Man…the drama! So, I went to Costa Rica for a year and volunteered as an English teacher and then decided to move to Washington D.C., where I lived with my cousins and started a career. I was there for three years, which was long enough. I remember standing on the metro (subway) late one evening, seeing everyone glued to their phones and not one wearing a wedding band. I had to get out.
In August of 2011, my best friend and I traveled to Spain, where we hiked 100 kilometers of El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage walk to Santiago de Compostela (the same town I lived in for a semester in college). It was during that pilgrimage I heard God tell me I’d get back to Colorado, and I’d find my husband. After the grueling, but beautiful, experience of El Camino we braved World Youth Day, where we became the old gals, and rightfully so. We were traveling with a priest and a group of wonderful college kids (my best friend was a missionary at a college campus at the time), and while World Youth Day had its pleasant moments (like seeing the Pope), I remember the heat, crowds and lack of amenities more so. It’s called World YOUTH Day for a reason.
Continue reading “From Nun and Too Many Dates to Family of Four”