Sunday, 05 July 2009

• Miss Independent

  Featured Grownups has a new topic.. and even though I haven't reintroduced myself there or been the very best Xangan I'm going to write anyway. Partly because I'm awake and the kids are not :)

  Your mission: What tyranny have you faced down in your personal life? From what bondage have you claimed or gained your independence? What is your independence day?

  As I sat here thinking of all the different ways I've gained my independence throughout my life, it dawned on me that none were more important than the realization I actually had it.

  As a mother I make sacrifices, I risk scrutiny on an hourly basis, do things I would never do for any other human and unfortunately have lost bits of myself that I gained through countless independent personal triumphs. Prior to thinking about this though, I thought all that had essentially removed my independence. Not being able to shift outside the box of parenthood for so long had deflated me.

  I have always been a very independent person. Pregnant young, out on my own, was a single parent for years and I always made things work.. always landed on my feet because I knew I could. I built a business, taught myself new things, expanded my creativity beyond my own expectations and nurtured some of the most beautiful people I've even known. Yet somehow I forgot that. Somehow I let myself believe that I was in chains.

  What I see now is that I was wrong. I have the freedom to make choices for my children that my parents did not make for me. The freedom to learn and search and question and grow every day so that I will never go backwards. I don't have to follow the sheep, and I never did. My independence was always right here with me; in my actions, on the faces of my children and I won't soon forget that. My independence day is today.

  I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th and my heart goes out to every man, woman and child serving our country to protect the freedom we celebrate.
  

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