My Story

After working in the television industry for 15 years, I got married and was blessed with identical twin girls in May of 1992.

My husband and I were enjoying being parents and tried for a few years to have more children, but it was not to be. I was plagued with medical problems and so we were set as a family.

I stayed home with my daughters and enjoyed being a mother I continued doing things on my own, too. I edited my Mothers of Twins Club newsletter and started a website or them. From that first website, I got work creating other websites and it became a small side job that I could do from home. I also made resumes for people and eventually took on a Mary Kay Cosmetics & Skin Care business, which I still have today. I was determined to be able to stay home and raise our daughters.

Having other interests also allowed me the ability to see things completed. One thing I noticed about being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) is that you don't get to see things to fruition very often. IE: you are never done raising your kids, the laundry is never completely done, the kitchen is never completely clean, there is always shopping to do, the whole house is never clean at the same time, etc.

I enjoyed having things that I could see through to their fruition, like the newsletter I edited. I could begin working on it and I could finish it and hold it in my hands. The same with the resumes that I made.

It was also very different for me to be a SAHM. I had worked in a male dominated career (television) for 15 years and SAHM is definitely a female dominated industry! I had to learn to be around women. I really enjoyed how women networked! They could get anything done! The coordination of these SAHMs was like a well oiled machine. Anything that would happen in the lives of these SAHMs would be able to be managed by the network of SAHMs. Hospitalizations, new births, car problems, babysitting issues, natural disasters, family deaths... all were handled in a beautiful orchestration of help among SAHMs.

The one issue I had working in this network of SAHMs was that women, when working together, can be a little gossipy. I wasn't used to that and it really bothered me. I handled some of it head on, directly speaking to the gossiper, but mostly I learned to just not participate and to 'let go, let God'.

Many of the friends I made when I became a SAHM are still my friends today. It's wonderful to see my daughters interact with the children of these friends as adults now, knowing that they have known each other since infancy. I think it's nice for them, too, to be so grounded in their community, even though some have moved away, they have remained connected.

To have friends whom they have known so long. I think it doesn't happen very often anymore, in our world today.

~Debbie in So. Cal.