I grew up in a small logging town in Northern California.
It didn’t have a lot of options to choose from when it came to shopping, education and employment. It’s timber industry didn’t give a strong sense of economic stability for families who depended on it, like mine. But, for every didn’t, there was a did, that made up for it as a child growing up in this town.
You see, I felt like I had an idyllic upbringing largely due to where and how I lived. It was a natural beautiful space with endless fishing holes and dirt roads which nurtured my sense of adventure as a child. As I grew up, the landscape became a source of wonder that filled my curiousity about what the rest of the world had to offer. Plus, my parents made sure we had excursions outside our town, despite the tight finances.
By the time I graduated high school, I wanted to leave my small town, not because I had less, but because I wanted to DO MORE. You know that saying “been there, done that”? Well, I felt I had done all I could there. It was time to make my way into the world outside of my place of comfort.
Unfortunately, I chose a path often traveled by young women - moving with a boyfriend to a big city for HIS job and then marrying too soon, for HIS security. Later, I would be forced to learn how much more unstable and insecure it was being with him. So, we divorced and I was now on my own in a new, big city but I didn't want to go home. I wanted to make a new one.
This is when my family’s value in a strong work ethic kicked in. I got myself two jobs and went back to finish up my college degree. Soon I found myself at a job, that, little did I know, would become that new home. I would eventually work my way up in this company and today I am its Chief Executive Officer.. I grew up there, literally and figurately, in so many ways.
But then came MOTHERHOOD. A new journey with new revelations. It seems I wasn't done growing and I accept that. It hasn't been an easy transition and I continue to learn so much about myself and myself in relation to others. As I become more secure in this new journey, I am finding a new way of doing life on my own terms.
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