Comments on: What I needed to hear

By: Jocy

Jocy — Tue, 09 May 2017 16:38:58 +0000

Ohh, being a mom… the hardest thing will ever do, it will push us to do and give our best, it will exhaust us, it will help us develop talents we didn’t know we had, it will drain us, it will help us become humble, it will bring the greatest joy into our lifes. Mothers, women, don’t compare your abilities with others, we are all different, encourage each other, help each other. Happy Mother’s day!

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 03 May 2017 17:21:19 +0000

This is beautifully written and you are right, has applications far outside of parenting. On an unrelated note, how did I not realize that you were also from Seattle?!

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:59:30 +0000

Thank you Mary. I so appreciate the encouragement.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:58:43 +0000

Thank you for your wisdom and adding your sweet voice to the conversation. I love love love learning from other mothers and really value your tip. Thank you so very much.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:57:33 +0000

I love this. I’m so grateful for my flexible schedule. I knew I always wanted to keep working but I also really wanted to be home when they got home. I realize that it is such a gift that I get to do both. And as I’m now on my computer while one child waits for me to come tuck her in and the other wants to snuggle and watch the new Bill Nye show, I appreciate your reminder to “put the phone down and enjoy what you can get.” Thank you.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:54:54 +0000

Thank you for your incredibly beautiful honesty. I so appreciate it and am honored to have your voice heard in this space. I forget so much of it too. I am that lady with the twinkle in her eye staring longingly at the babes in her arms. Meanwhile she’s half asleep and living on coffee. But I made a promise to remember the good and the bad so I can speak of the beauty and the hardship.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:52:18 +0000

Kasey, I want to punch them too. And I think everyone handles it differently as well. I was like you, in a fetal position a lot of the time. I mean don’t get me wrong, I still can get there but the demands are different these days. It does come naturally to others, although I’ve never met a mom who at some point will admit they don’t always like their children. Honesty in the good and the bad is so needed.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:49:49 +0000

Thank you sweet friend.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:49:31 +0000

What a stunning observation. Parenting is such a strange thing. I think for so much of it we all feel so insecure and with insecurity comes judgment, comparison, angst, and all sorts of other not so healthy emotions. I love love love this: “savor the moment” is great advice if you’re eating French pastries, but not really applicable to everyday parenting.”

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Wed, 03 May 2017 02:47:14 +0000

So so so little rationality. hahaha.

By: Efins

Efins — Tue, 02 May 2017 22:31:42 +0000

Thanks for this! With a one and a three year old, I want to enjoy and savor, etc, and feel guilty when I don’t but. ….so much work and so little rationality!

By: Amber Colvin

Amber Colvin — Tue, 02 May 2017 14:14:42 +0000

I’m not – and can’t ever be – a mom, but I am a stepmom to a wonderful, fascinating, frustrating, infuriating, and amazing 8-year-old girl. Being a mother is not my calling, and I was happy with my life before I met her and her dad – being a mother didn’t complete me – but I have faced challenges that I didn’t know could even BE challenges in the past few years. Most of all, I feel a pressure that I never felt in any other part of my life – no one told me to savor getting my PhD, or to enjoy the crappy parts of my career, and no one scrutinized me the way strangers scrutinize mothers (and stepmothers, to an even more extreme extent in some way) – and I am often sending up silent prayers that this can’t be all there is, that there has to be joy as well as hardship. This is exactly what I needed to hear today, that there are moments of joy in the mundane, and that “savor the moment” is great advice if you’re eating French pastries, but not really applicable to everyday parenting.

By: sara forte

sara forte — Tue, 02 May 2017 03:29:51 +0000

what a humble prayer. you are a bright light.

By: Ashley Rodriguez

Ashley Rodriguez — Mon, 01 May 2017 18:47:32 +0000

Lisa, thanks for pulling this out. I need to remind myself of this too. haha. It’s still okay. Thanks for reading and commenting.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 01 May 2017 17:13:06 +0000

This! “I want to say that you’re okay, you’re doing a great job and even when you’re not it’s still okay.” I honestly didn’t think I needed to hear it but I so did. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

By: Kasey

Kasey — Mon, 01 May 2017 17:10:10 +0000

Really beautifully written, Ashley. I’m really struggling through this season. Most weekends, I find myself in fetal position a few times, exasperated. I question everything, but more than anything, myself. I want to punch those little old ladies in the face when they tell me to savor every moment. And I loathe the women who make it all look so easy and enjoyable. We need more women like you, who are willing to speak out and be honest about the fact that it’s so damn hard. But we’ll survive the hard stuff, and we’ll be better for it. And so will our little people! xo

By: Colette

Colette — Mon, 01 May 2017 15:41:50 +0000

This is so beautifully honest! I remember so vividly those feelings. All of them! I believe I am also one of those who spoke those words to a young mom as I was going through the difficult years of kids in high school. Forgetting that I had felt the sting of those words myself. The feeling I wanted to convey to this young mom was how lovely that time was now that I was in a different “trial”. Yes, it’s true I had conveniently forgotten the isolation, lack of sleep, goopiness everywhere and the Laundry! Thank you for sharing as I would love to be an encourager to young women as they go through these years and brighten their day with true words of love!! Words that everyone needs to hear! Every day!

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 01 May 2017 12:48:22 +0000

I love this. I’m not a mom yet, but I think this applies to everyone.

By: Cynthia Hule

Cynthia Hule — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 23:10:58 +0000

And this is why you’ve always been my hero and role model and hoping I’ll grow up to be a mother like you.
Thank you for it all Ashley. All these years you’ve always known what to say.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 21:29:25 +0000

So good Ashley. So good.