Storytelling Season

This time of year is busy and crazy and also my absolute favorite.  I am in the middle of my storytelling season and my heart is bursting with gratitude and inspiration and so much god damn love.

Truth! (Photo Credit: Pinterest)

As a producer of Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit, I get to bond with a cast of storytellers that are brave and funny and full of life and all kinds of amazing.  

My coproducer Angela Amman and I running our first rehearsal.

I also get to meet businesses that sponsor our show that have their own stories to tell.  The woman in Detroit who pitched her idea for a bra shop, got the funding and went after her dream.  The therapists who help kids with special needs and their families, kids and families who bring me to tears with their strength and resolve and love.


Euro-Peds from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

The show is less than two weeks away, on April 26 at Saint Andrew's Hall in Detroit.  It is going to be phenomenal. (Click here for tickets.)

As a freelance video editor I get to create videos for nonprofit organizations like Charlottes' Wings.  I get to meet women who came together to make a difference in the lives of children suffering from illness and families who are grieving after losing a child.  I get to meet  and talk with children in the hospital and their parents and their caregivers.  

These men were playing beautiful music in the lobby of Children's Hospital when I was there. Music is healing and comforting.

The video will be shown at the benefit which is on April 25th (yup, the day before my LTYM show!). I will post it on my blog after the benefit.

I am blessed and honored and grateful that I get to help tell all the stories and help provide a platform for people to share their stories.  I am humbled and blown away by what people go through, what people survive, what people remember, what people hold onto, what people want to share.

And of course I'm still telling the stories of my own family on my blog, vlog and other places.  I was recently asked to share my love story on the lifestyle blog, The Best of this Life.  It was fun to look back at the past 17 years of my relationship with Tim.

(Click here to read the story.)

This season, this month of April, is also a busy time on my YouTube channel because I participate in VEDA (vlog everyday in April).  This month I haven't been quite as everyday as I'd like, but I'm hoping to end the month strong with stories everyday on my channel. Check out it out...

(Click here to watch the video.)

Merry/Happy Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday Season

I will admit that over the years the holidays haven't really been my thing.  Due to a few painful childhood memories, a constantly limited budget and too much damn pressure, my reaction to the holidays was usually to retreat.  Even after my kids were born, I struggled.  I loved making new memories with them, but my uneasiness lingered.  But something strange is happening.   Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older older and I've been a parent for 13 years, I don't know.   I feel like I am far enough away from painful memories and I've created so many years of good times with my own sweet family,  well, the holidays just aren't feeling as overwhelming right now.

I'm not rolling my eyes when I hear people talk about decorating before Thanksgiving or when I hear the first Nat King Cole Christmas song on the radio.  I smile to myself like I picture a kind grandma doing when I hear people feverishly complain about stores being open on Thanksgiving like their lives depended on it instead of making fun of them in my head.  It's strange, but good.

I'm considering forgetting Thanksgiving all together and not feeling badly about it.  I mean why not? It got so cold here this week and snowed, it feels more like Christmas anyway. 

Yesterday it was 12 degrees so I started making paper snowflakes and we had hot cocoa with whipped cream after school.  It all felt very holiday-ish and I didn't feel twitchy or wrong.  It's strange, but good.

One part of the holidays that I have truly always loved and has helped get me get out of my painful funks over the years is helping others.  

This year I got to make a video about a book drive for one of my favorite nonprofits Charlotte's Wings (I've written about them here and here and here).  It is an amazing nonprofit that collects and donates new books to children and families in hospital or hospice care in Michigan. Here's a link to a great article about the book drive at Barnes & Noble in Rochester Hills.   Check out the video (and if you live in the area go donate a book).


Charlotte's Wings Book Drive at Barnes & Noble 2014 Final Version from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

Wondering how to make a difference this holiday season?  It's simple.  Do something.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen, invite a lonely friend over for dinner, visit a nursing home or hospital, offer to babysit your neighbor's kids for an afternoon, make dinner for someone, find a book drive or a toy drive or a coat drive.  Get into the spirit of the season.

I'm feeling strangely ready to sing a Christmas song, eat turkey, watch football, watch The Polar Express and go volunteer.  Happy/Merry Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday Season!!! Bring it on, I am ready, I think.  It's strange, but good.  


How do YOU feel?  Are you decorating?  Do you love the holidays?  Do you and your family get involved in community service, what do you do?


Just for fun and because I'm feeling so holiday-ish, here's a funny holiday song/video from Kristen Bell- Text Me Merry Christmas

A Stage, A Mother and A Story & #iPPP

I've been talking a lot about motherhood and stages lately (LTYM).  Last Friday night, I went to an event to raise money for a charity close to my heart.  And at that event, my friend got on stage and blew me and everyone in the room away.

I've written about the event before (here and here), it was a benefit for the nonprofit Charlotte's Wings, an organization that donates books to hospitals and hospices in Michigan.  The event started as a pretty small fundraiser on the patio of a bar.  It has grown to be THE event of the season for a lot of folks.  The ballroom of the fanciest hotel in town fills with 600 people decked out and ready to spend major money at the silent auction.  Since I don't have major money, my role is to get the dance floor going--a job I am more than happy to take on.

I'm sure nobody bidding at the silent auction tables looked at me strangely for posing like this for Tim to take the picture of my dress. 

The day before the fancy gala, I went dress shopping and found a dress that I felt was sophisticated yet let me move on the dance floor.

There was a step and repeat, which was awesome.
There was champagne and a line for the cash bar.
There was a great band.
There were so many fancy people and pretty dresses.
There were so many items to bid on like signed jerseys, birthday parties, massages and more.

And there was a stage, and there was a mother.

This whole evening existed because of one mother who lost her little girl to a rare disease.  The mother is my friend Jo.  Her daughter was Charlotte.  After Charlotte passed away, Jo and her husband donated books in her honor to a hospital.  Jo and her friend Jen then decided to start a nonprofit and give more books to more hospitals.  They are up to over 30,000 books.

I knew the story well, I 've been friends with Jo for years.  But last Friday night when Jo got on that stage to tell the story of Charlotte and the books that brought her family comfort in the final days of Charlotte's illness, there was something different.  Jo was more emotional than I'd seen her maybe ever.  She was still this strong, composed woman but there was something different.  She seemed more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her and yet braver at the same time.  She told the crowd of 600 well-dressed party goers how she wasn't sure if her daughter heard her reading to her, but it brought comfort to a mother being able to read to her child.

Tears and a standing ovation followed.
Then it was back to partying and dancing and lining up at the cash bar.  Back to the party, back to life.  But everything felt different.  There was more purpose to the auction bidding.  There was more appreciation for life and loved ones.  There was more admiration for one mother's strength and courage and grace.

Here's a video I made that was shown at the event.

Charlotte's Wings 2014 from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

To find out more about Charlotte's Wings, click here.

This post is part of the #iPPP link up. 

Now it's your turn to link up a post for the #iPPP.

Angela Amman (my LTYM co-producer and #iPPP co-hoster and amazing, wonderful friend) and I want to see your funny, heartfelt, favorite phone photos from the week!  Your post can be about anything, as long as it contains one picture from your phone.  Link up below and don't forget to visit some of the others!

<img src=”http://mamamash.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/ippp-polaroid-125-x-125.jpg” alt=”GFunkified” style=”border:none;” />

Living Rooms--Mothers In The Hood Part Three

"Thank you for coming along on the ride that is my mid-life crisis," I said as everyone found a seat in my living room.

"Some people may call it a mid-life crisis, I like to call it growth," my friend (and professional counselor) Joelle thoughtfully explained to all of us.

This was the scene at my third Mothers In The Hood party the other night.  A party where we talked a lot about growth and breaking and bending and grace and authenticity and identity.  And how motherhood effects all of it.

Last year, I started having these parties to get a group of mothers of all ages and backgrounds and political affiliations and situations together to connect.  I wanted to talk about more than managing our kids, and worrying and loving them.  I dreamed of conversations about issues in our neighborhoods, projects that we could get involved with to make a difference and also, my mid-life crisis.  Or I mean growth.

I dreamed of conversations that would challenge, support, inspire, encourage and affirm.  I dreamed of a living room full of mothers laughing together and caring about each other.  The other night, it happened.

For Mothers In The Hood Part Three I wanted to focus on all my "who am I" issues that I'm feeling as my children get older.  I wanted the vibe to be sort of like Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," you know the whole "the children get older, I'm getting older too." So, I asked my good friend Joelle, the professional therapist I mentioned earlier, to come and run the show.  She told me she would "facilitate and validate" and I asked her if she could come over everyday.  

I asked my other good pal, Liane, to display her pictures, her artwork.  She is an amazing storyteller with her pictures.  Her selfies aren't what you typically think of when you hear the word selfie...they truly tell a story.

She was reluctant.  But I am so glad she decided to share her art and her self.

The party was also the perfect place to share copies of my favorite magazine, mamalode.  Especially because the magazine and the web site started as a group of moms in Montana sharing stories and connecting, just like my living room dream.  

The magazine is full of stories about the journey of motherhood and identity and love and support and creativity.  Inside the issue we looked at, Space, is a story about a woman, Amy Turn Sharp, who loves poetry, who writes poetry, but never told anyone she was a poet.  Then she started writing a poem a day for a year, she started to share and tell people that she was in deed a poet.  She writes "I never realized that you could just announce to yourself one fine day, what it is you want to be, and then become it.  It's been liberating, really."

This was the perfect message for the party.

The women in my living room were friends from all over--the gym, my street, my kids' school, church, volunteer projects--mothers in my hood.  Many of them had never met.  I invited  a mix of mamas and wasn't sure what was going to happen. What happened was, all of them showed up, I mean they SHOWED UP.  Some of them shared stories that were personal and raw.  Other women listened with compassion and heart.  We talked careers, climbing ladders, change, giving up, giving in, evolving, breaking, bending, losing ourselves, finding ourselves.

Joelle and I thought up questions before the party to get everyone thinking.  Questions like:
Who did I think I was when I was 20?
Who did I think I was after my first child was born?
Who am I now?

"Life forces us to look at ourselves differently all the time," Joelle explained to the group.  "It's the evolution of ourselves, it's growth."

Then she asked all of us what we would do/be if a magic wand waved away all limitations.  

"Travel the world, making headbands out of flowers, singing and making crafts," was my answer.  And I'm wasn't kidding.

One mother said "to be a writer." Another mother said "to find a job that I love." Another said "I'm so happy with who I am right now, I hope I stay me."

We talked about appreciation of where we are now in our lives, finding purpose and how learning new things makes people happy.  Joelle asked us what we wanted to learn in the next couple weeks.  The answers varied from how to knit to how to share more, to be a good grandmother to how to reupholster a chair.

Everyone brought a book to donate to the nonprofit organization Charlotte's Wings (CW). CW is dedicated to supporting ailing children through donations of books to the children and their families in hospital and hospice care.  And it was started by a group of passionate mother friends in my neighborhood. 

The discussion ended with ideas and inspiration about learning and growing and accepting ourselves.

My hope is that the women in my living room realize that they can just announce to themselves one fine day, what it is they want to be, and then become it. Whether it is an activist, a writer, a photographer, a poet, an attorney, a chemist, a grandmother, a therapist or some badass combination of all of it.  I hope the women find value in themselves and the other women in the room no matter how different they are.  

I hope my mom friends write, share, take pictures, learn to knit, reupholster and find passion and purpose in their every day. And maybe someday I will indeed travel the world making headbands out of flowers.

Got a living room?  You should totally invite your mama friends over to have discussions that challenge, support, inspire, encourage and affirm. Seriously, it's kind of amazing. 

For more information about mamalode, click here.

For more information about Charlotte's Wings, click here. Or watch this:

Charlottes Wings 2013 from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

And because I mentioned it above, I have to link to it, duh.  Here it is, Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide."

Love Stories

One of the reasons I write a blog is to tell stories.  Because telling stories is important.  Because we all have stories.  Because I want my kids to know their stories.  Because I want to remember their stories--I want to remember how I felt when the kids were little, I want to remember when Wade couldn't say all his words and he said "backbard" instead of back yard, I want to remember the kitchen dances and even the tween eye rolls.  It's our story.

Since I started this blog, I've had the privilege to help tell other people's stories.  This past weekend, I was part of an event full of amazing people.

It was a night full of love stories.

This event was for an organization called Charlotte's Wings.  The story behind this organization is a story of loss, a story of grief, a story of friendship,and hope and compassion and love.  My friend Jo, lost her daughter to a rare genetic disease.  Her friends rallied around and supported Jo and her family.  In the midst of their grief, Jo and her husband donated books to an area hospital in honor of Charlotte.  Inspired by their generosity and compassion for other families in hospitals or hospice that needed comfort and distraction, those friends rallied again, and together they all started a nonprofit--Charlotte's Wings.  Today, they have donated over 20,000 books to Michigan hospitals and hospices.

For the past six years, my husband and I have gotten dressed up and gone to the benefit. (Click here to read about last year's Charlotte's Wings benefit.)  It's for friends, it's to help, it's at a fancy hotel, it's all good.

Part of the story of the night was in deed the fact that it was a date night for us.  Tim and I were posting Instagrams of ourselves all dressed up and I was ordering pre-event cocktails in the hotel bar.  We were laughing and enjoying being grown-ups.  

"I got a room for you," he said and I nearly spit out my drink.  

"What are you talking about?," I asked.

"You need time to yourself," he said as he took my hand in his.  "You always say how nice it would be to get away, so do it.  I'll go home when the dancing starts and take care of the kids, you stay, dance and then get a good night's sleep."

Silence.....and then....

"Um, no way, I can't, but, what about? how? isn't it too much? it feels wrong. are you sure? oh, wait. can I?  oh man, I'm ordering another drink," I said all at once feeling so loved and in love.

We walked hand in hand to the ballroom to our table.  I was full of giddy excitement about drinking and dancing with my buddy Steph, and then sleeping in a king size bed alone.  He was full of giddy excitement that he got out of being bored while I danced for three hours straight.  It was working out so well for both of us.

Part of the story of the night was about a video.  A video I made to help tell the story of the impact of Charlotte's Wings. 

A couple months ago, I visited a children's hospital and met the sick kids and the parents who were using the books Charlotte's Wings donated.  I heard stories of their heart-aching, unwavering, superpower love and unimaginable strength.  The video was a love letter to my inspiring friends at Charlotte's Wings and to those parents that I met at the hospital.

I was nervous.  I wanted people to get it...feel it...

As the video started, Tim once again reached over and grabbed my hand.  He knew the weight of responsibility I felt to tell this love story the right way.  "People will feel it honey," he whispered.  "They'll get it," he added and squeezed my hand tightly.  

Charlottes Wings 2013 from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

I held my breath while over 600 people in the room watched.  

Some people cried. Some people hopefully spent more at the silent auction.  Some people got it, I hope.

Because we all have a story.  We all have a love story to tell.  The love story of a husband's thoughtful surprise.  The love story of old pals dancing away their worries in a hotel ballroom.  The love story of friends supporting each other, lifting each other out of sorrow and grief.  The love story of strangers donating money to a charity.  The love story of parents reading books to their sick children in the hospital.  

It's holding hands tightly, it's smiling through the tears, it's finding the joy and the beauty.  It's appreciating the good in our lives and the incredibly tough times we get through, it's about the stories we will remember.

To find out more about Charlotte's Wings, click here.

Mothers in the Hood

I had this idea last week.  It was an idea for a party.  It was an idea for a movement.  It went something like this....mothers coming together to celebrate our diversity, our passions, our dreams, our businesses, our art, our politics.  Mothers coming together to talk about how becoming a mother can feel overwhelming at times, but also empowering.  

This party was also a way for me to stop being a hypocrite.  A way to drop the curtain.  

It has become very easy for me to sit in my kitchen office and write a blog about how I keep it real with my messy house and unruly kids.  But real life?  I didn't want anyone to walk into my unorganized home and witness it first hand.  I didn't want to host a party because my cabinets in my rental house are mismatched and I still have boxes that are unpacked a year after moving in.  

It has become very easy for me to sit in my kitchen office and be on my computer and tell my stories and never talk to real people.  People in my neighborhood.

So, I dropped the curtain and invited mothers from my hood to my mismatched, unorganized home.  

I also invited two organizations that involve amazing mothers to educate and inspire the movement--Moms Clean Air Force and Charlotte's Wings.

My friend Vee from Moms Clean Air Force (MCAF) came to talk about how mothers can become activists for clean air.  We watched videos from celebrity mom activists involved in MCAF Juliane Moore and Jessica Capshaw (and of course now we KNOW them, right?).

We discussed energy standards, emissions, fracking and more.  We talked about personal responsibility.  We talked about global warming and legacy.  We talked about how mothers can be at the forefront of making effective change in policy and beyond.


Maybe there will be a mother from my hood that goes all Erin Brockovich on us and uses her mother power to change the world environmentally one petition at a time.  And maybe not and that's okay.  It was just one part of the movement.

Charlotte's Wings is an organization that at serves the state of Michigan.  They provide books and nooks to children in hospitals and hospices.   It was founded by women, mothers, who came together to help children. Their story is about coping with grief and finding ways to make a difference. I wrote about the benefit I attended last year and how it inspired me here.  

Everyone that came to my house party, brought a book to donate to Charlotte's Wings and then they watched this video to learn more:


Maybe there will be a mother from my hood that goes out and starts a life-changing nonprofit organization or maybe they'll go to the gala benefit for Charlotte's Wings in May.  And maybe not and that's okay.

This "mothers in the hood" movement idea is not about judging what inspires or speaks to women, it's about celebrating it.  It's not about feeling less than or more than, it's about feeling wiser, prouder and stronger.  We are mothers hear us roar kind of thing.  More Helen Reddy less Sarah Palin.  But if you love her, that's cool too, no judgement, I mean it.  No mommy wars here.

And hey, the movement also included wine, cheese, my famous guacamole (I'm the only one that calls it that, but I'm trying to change that), cookies and more wine.  

These mother people are a group of intelligent, compassionate, funny, serious, complicated, passionate, courageous women.

In 2008, I got involved in the presidential campaign and met so many amazing women and mothers.  We had a blast working together and organizing together.  Even though I'm still involved politically, I have a lot of Republican friends.  Friends that will never campaign with me.  Friends that I want to hang out with, friends that I want to find commonality with, friends that if nothing else we can bond over a good bottle of wine.

My first party was a success.  Books were donated, seeds of activism were planted, wine was poured, appetizers were eaten and good times were had and maybe a movement was was started.  No one mentioned my mismatched cabinets or dirty floors.  And I'm already plannning my next party.

What are the mothers in your hood doing that inspires you or interests you?  Ask them.   Invite them over.  Tell me about it in the comments.  

All the pictures were taken by my ahhhhmazing friend and fellow mom-of-four club member Liane.  She is uber talented and I love her.  Check out her awesome photoblog, my dusty glass, here, her pictures are incredibly beautiful.

Click here to find out more about Moms Clean Air Force.

Click here to find out more about Charlotte's Wings.