The moment I reframed motherhood to include being unapologetically committed to my own excellence and dreams, the moment I gave myself permission to pursue my own happiness…is the moment I would ultimately be choosing to give my children the gift of the best mother I could be.

They won’t remember their mother’s agony over leaving them with a sitter, or their occasional tears as she pulled out of the driveway.  They won’t remember missing her at all.  They won’t remember these little moments they were given to explore the territory of their own bodies and minds to find peace with their reality…they’ll be grateful later for the practice, though!

Most important, they’ll have no recollection of the pain, isolation, and desperation their mother endured as the result of her prior self-neglect.   They’ll know nothing of opportunities missed as the result of their mother’s low confidence and self-esteem.

I aim to be remembered by my children as a woman who stood in all of her vulnerability, rawness, pain and perceived weakness, and despite it all, had the courage, grit and stamina to press confidently toward her dreams.

I want them to witness that like life, fitness is ever-present and ever-evolving.  It is not a series of achievements marked in time.  It is a lifestyle fraught with daily mental, emotional and physical challenges.  It requires conscious, self-inflicted daily obstacles with the option to overcome or to fail.  It is a metaphor for everything in life, and it is as necessary and important as our devotion and love for one another.