Three Moms

#1
When I stopped in front of Michelle’s booth, at the local farmer’s market, I was surprised to see her flip a delicious-looking omelet. Through my light acquaintance with her, I had never known that she did this.

So I asked.

And she said: “Oh yes. We are doing this for Olivia.”

Olivia is her ten-year old daughter and and Michele and her husband thought that Olivia would enjoy learning a little bit about business as well as creating something with her family. So, last December, the three of them sat down and came up with the idea of having a food booth at the market, for the summer weekends.

Olivia is beaming and I learn that she is involved in all parts of the operation: creation, purchasing, inventory, production...

As Michelle’s husband told me: “By the time se is 16, she will be able to do this on her own.”

What a gift.

They all seemed really happy and I left the booth feeling uplifted by having briefly touched the lives of such a creative parents.

***

#2
Last night. waiting (forever) for French fries at the drive in movie theater.

The woman standing next to me had been waiting even longer and as I smiled at her, I noticed that her jacket said something about “F.B.I.”

So, of course ... I asked.

As we talked, she told me how one of her three sons was in the F.B.I. Was a forensic psychologist, actually. I found out that this is the guy who talks to killers and - as she put it - “gets inside their heads.” Think Silence of the Lambs.

Yikes.

She told me about him deciding to do this when he was 16, even though no one else in their family had gone to college. She told me about how strange it felt knowing that he could not talk about his work.

She sounded both proud and still puzzled.

Finally, she told me that until he had turned 16, if she had thought of him having anything to do with law enforcement, “it would have been from the other side.”


***

#3
A delicious lunch shared with a friend.

Our waitress sporting a new haircut. A creative haircut.

So... yes, we asked.

And she told us that her daughter had just graduated from beauty school. Then she said :”I get new hairdos A LOT.”



That’s it. Just three very short interactions with three women.
Three essential exchanges about the many different ways that we get to be moms.

Three connections which continue to feed me.