Is the race like a loop or an obstacle course?  Am I a jockey, am I a horse?  Is there pushing and shoving to get to the lead? If the race is unfair, will I succeed?  Do some of us win?  Do some of us lose?  Is winning or losing something I choose?   Why am I racing ? What am I winning?  Does all of my running keep the world spinning?

It ends with : Sometimes it’s better not to go fast.  There are beautiful sights to be seen when you’re last.  Shouldn’t it be that you just try your best?  And that’s more important than beating the rest?

The entire message of this book is worth considering at this busy time of year.  The kids have gone back to school.  Sports are starting up.  Volunteer opportunities, play dates and personal goals fill up my calendar from morning to night.  I find it difficult to slow myself down.  I want to be the best mom, best athlete, best wife, best friend and a successful business woman.  Is it possible? Not only do I  push myself, but then I turn around and push my kids.  Am I too hard on them? Why can’t I be happy if they are just great students?  Do they need to be better than everyone else?  What the hell am I teaching my kids!!!!!????

I don’t have the answers to all of the questions above.  I am still working on how to slow things down a bit.  The days that I am able to enjoy my life the most are those that I actually sit down and listen to my kids for more than five minutes.  Maybe they are telling me a silly story, or something that happened at school or what they want for Christmas (yes they already have a list).  I don’t answer the phone or check emails for a stretch of time and I have a minute to look around and appreciate all of the wonderful things in my life.

She read about Jania Fox running a half marathon and Beth Armstrong doing the Ironman- but realized as much as she likes fitness- the desire to run anything more than 3 miles wasn’t creating that fire in her belly.  She wasn’t burning to start her own business or create a charitable organization.  Then she remembered a dream that had occupied her in the past but never quite got off the ground.  Lisa had written a children’s book when her daughter Lauren was just over a year old.  She sent it out to a few publishers- but when those publishers passed on the story she let the project die.

She decided to resurrect her old dream of getting her story published.  Let me start with the climax and work backward.  Her story was accepted for publishing and you can check it out by clicking this link: Cookie, By Lisa Woomer.  Not only did she write this charming story based on her experience as a mom of a picky eater, but she also illustrated her own story.

The plot of the story is a scenario that most mom’s are familiar with: no matter how hard we try to get our children to eat healthy, most kids would prefer a cookie to broccoli.  Some of us moms (I’m not naming names) don’t worry too much about the broccoli situation- assuming it will resolve itself someday.  Lisa, however, is a different kind of mom.  You know that mom who makes her own babyfood with organic fruits and veggies?  That is Lisa.  Not many moms I know purchased a vegan cake for their child’s first birthday either.

Lisa has always had a passion for health and fitness.  She worked as a step aerobics instructor to pay for part of her college tuition.  When she was a teacher she regularly brought her students healthy snacks to eat in class.   After getting married and having her first child she was committed to feeding her daughter only the healthiest food.  As luck would have it she had a picky eater on her hands.  Her daughter, Lauren, would squirm and pucker when she fed her delicacies such as homemade applesauce and sweet potatoes.  But, by the time Lauren turned one, she began to recognize some foods that she thoroughly enjoyed…much to Lisa’s dismay- it wasn’t homemade veggies.  Based on her experience with Lauren, the story of Cookie started to come together in Lisa’s mind.

Lisa wrote the story knowing that she wasn’t alone in her frustration over her picky eater.  Rather than be frustrated by the situation, Lisa decided to find the humor in it.  After writing her story, she attended a workshop on how to get a book published.  From that workshop, she learned some valuable information about formatting and presenting a story to publishers.   She sent her story out to a few big names and didn’t get the response she was looking for. At that time she tucked her story away and didn’t pursue it any further.

Since her initial efforts, the publishing world has changed dramatically due to the advances in online book sales.  Thankfully, she renewed her efforts and was successful this time around.  Now, her children will add their mom’s book to bookshelves to be passed down to their children too.   You can buy her book online and support her courage and persistence in seeing her dream through to fruition.  If you buy the book in the next two months, Lisa will donate the profits to Manhattan Beach Education Foundation.  At a minimum, you have to take a look at the book by clicking the link here:  Cookie, by Lisa Woomer.   

The story gets interesting quickly, and continues to unveil twists and turns every couple of pages.  I haven’t met anyone who has read this story and didn’t love it.

I found the prologue to be one of the best parts of the book- it focuses on communicating with your child. The premise of the book is that by talking with your children- really talking with them, you create an environment of inspiration and change.  It forced me to start answering and investigating when my children ask, “why?”.

The 10 chapters are:

Becoming a person, Childhood and Happiness, Knowledge and Inspiration, Bestowing Dignity,Honoring the Feminine, Forgiveness, Family and Tradition, Love, Fear, God

The amazing thing to me is that when we find out we are pregnant, we pick up all of these awesome books about what to expect during pregnancy and delivery. Before I delivered my first child, I read all I could about parenting a newborn.  From the time my second son was born until about a year ago (so let’s call that 4 1/2 years) I neglected to pick up a book about parenting.  Suddenly, I found my boys were fighting more, listening to me less and having a hard time handling any “curveballs” that life would throw at them.   This book (10 Conversations) and one other: “HOW TO TALK SO YOUR KIDS WILL LISTEN AND LISTEN SO YOUR KIDS WILL TALK“(I’ll review this book in January)- completely transformed my parenting style.   In addition, I now have tools to handle most of the challenges I am facing with young children as they mature into young adults.  

I want to thank my friend of 36 years Jeanne Miraglia for introducing me to this book.  Every parent should receive a copy of this book after they give birth to a child.  If you start talking to your kids now and develop a deep spiritual bond, you will have fewer regrets as you see them grow up.  My sister-in-law taught me this.  So read the book.  Let me know what you think.

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN-BY BETTY SMITH

The beloved American classic about a young girl’s coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness — in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.