Miss Liberty

As I stand here, torch in one hand, matches in the other, braising myself for the change ahead, I can't but feel appreciation.
Appreciating in value as I recharge (not the credit cards...), replenish (the fridge), revamp (my home office), re-unite with my old self and pre-pair (with my new bag) to go to work tomorrow!
A year of soul searching, job sicking, coffee meeting and way too many lunches passed by and I am launching the new me -  the Back-to-Work Mom.

I look down and notice my shoes are till blue... patina color.

"Hey, Miss Liberty, we got the same shoes"!

Who Am I?

Good question, if I may say so myself.

It's been a week full of learning, and we still have the other half of it to go.
I decided to learn as much as I can about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), copy writing and social media, so I took some webinars, ordered some books and I'm immersing myself in this mess-of-knowledge, trying to find my Element, like sir Ken Robinson said.
With all these Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn registration forms, with job interviews and discussing me with myself behind my back, I found out some definitions are just empty shells: some 'old skins' and some are just 'for others' but don't really define ME.

So here it is, the real (yet peculiar) definitions I came up with. They fit me best, for now.

• I'm a bee. I like socializing, I'm the buffet type, I start here, than go there, or maybe that way is better... hey I'm interested in that too... a buzzing bee. With all these words stuck in one phrase you might have mistaken me for a disguised ADD, but I'm not. As bees are, I'm very organized, my hive is spotless (most days) and my file cabinet (or e-files) would have been the envy of the neighborhood, had they known or had access to it. In my family I'm The Queen Bee, of course.
• I'm a Personality Dula. I know, sounds a bit pretentious, but I am. I help people become who they are in their core. They do the searching and hard work, of course, I just stand aside and suggest, enable, facilitate, mostly soul working. I get to know people and somehow it dawns on me who they really are... most times.
• I'm a Professional Meidale. Meidale is a Yiddish word meaning 'people's person', especially older people. I was the classic 7 going on 70 and still can converse with anyone about anything as I like many different things, see Bee above.

Who are you? No, not the outside you, who are you really?

Kids Talk

It's evening, two kindergartners in the back seat, one of them mine and one is shuttled home after a play date. I'll call them Miss Cutie (AKA pre-Barbie) and Mr. Handsome (AKA pre-Ken), here is the conversation:

Mr. Handsome: "What do you want to be when you grow up, Miss Cutie? What do you want to be?"

Mr. Handsome: (can't wait to state his future profession) "I want to be a policeman guard in the museum"

Miss Cutie: "I'll be a firefighter"

Mr. Handsome: "you can be anything you want, you know? I might be a planet scientist who lives on planets"

(upgrade! good for you, young Mr. Handsome! we should make an appointment with your parents and sign the engagement agreement before he changes back to security guard)

Miss Cutie: "there's no such thing as a planet scientist. You can't get there! right mummy?"

Mum-me: "you can research planets, and maybe when you grow up you'll be able to live on one too" (just not too far, mummy doesn't want to fly coach all the way to Mars)

Miss Cutie: "I want to be a mom"

Mr. Handsome: " just a mom? (auch), you should be a babysitter, yeehhh!"

I stopped listening. Gazing carefully at the road ahead I thought, 'the kid has a point'. An average 20 something babysitter makes anywhere between $15-$22 an hour. A mom makes a complaint and a grudge, drawings for the holidays (with lots of good intentions, of course, and a healthy dose of smiles at breakfast). Conclusion: babysitter waaaaay cooler.

Conclusion #2: I need an out of the home job, quick. It looks much better when you dress up nicely, shove everyone out the door, into the car and aahhhh, the workplace! An office all to yourself, computer station without partners or other sharing-parties, a coffee mag to call your own and the wonderful recycled air! I might even have a window!

Indecisive? Confusing? True. I opt to read The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and dream of greener future for me and for my daughter, 'couse being a mom is wonderful, it's a life time commitment that oftentimes dictates your lifestyle but it always seems not enough....

Comments anyone?