Calling the Shots: motherhood

I'm taking the suggestion of extraordinary blogger Marie of Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer and devoting this posting to let the blogosphere know who I really am.

I am first and foremost a single mother to an almost-three-year-old girl. I adopted her from China when she was 13 months old. She was worth my four-year wait for a child. She is a sweet, joyful girl with a sunny disposition and an awesome sense of humor. Ari is the center of my world, and she keeps me centered.

During my long wait for my sweetie-pie, I learned to speak and understand Mandarin through Pimsleur CDs. It is truly a beautiful language. When I was in China, the people were so friendly and appreciated my attempts (some good, some not so good) to converse in Mandarin with them. I also spoke it to my daughter to soothe her with familiar sounds.

Oddly enough, my postman is from China, and I occasionally practice Mandarin with him. It's important to me to continue learning the language because 1) I love it and 2) it's part of my daughter's heritage. Next year, I'm hoping to enroll her in Mandarin classes. I don't consider myself fluent, but I can only hope that one day I will be. I know enough to get by.

My daughter has joined my other two kids: my male tuxedo Manx cat Hemi (author of blog Hemi'sPhere) and my brown tabby Cosette, who has guest posted.

Hemi

Cosette

I'm originally from the Bronx, NY, and went to Michigan State University to become a veterinarian. I worked four gruelling years at an animal hospital. I got to see surgeries and do a lot of kennelwork (UGH) and labwork. To this day, I can distinguish a hookworm egg from a tapeworm egg, something I can brag about at parties.

At college, I learned to judge cattle and pigs as part of an Animal Husbandry course; judging livestock was not easy for a city girl.

My first roommate was the Pork Queen of Michigan. Curious? Just leave a comment and I'll answer your questions!

In college, I became an English major -- drawn to writing and my love of reading. I wanted to be an author and a faculty member at a college, and I am glad to say, I am both. I love teaching students English composition and Humanities and watching students grow in their skills. I enjoy being a part of the learning process.

My hobbies are writing, reading, trying to stay fit through brisk walks and swimming, as well as oil painting and sketching. Below are some samples of my artwork. Art relaxes me like nothing else. I dabble with my acoustic guitar, and let's just say I'm not going to be going on tour anytime soon.

A new hobby for me is gardening. So far, so good -- especially considering I tend to kill plants (not on purpose). It's ironic that I'm horticulturally challenged because years ago I was an editor and writer for a horticultural trade magazine. Who knew? The weekend found me wrestling with a huge bag of sphagnum peat, and the bag of peat won the battle, but not the war. Suffice it to say, I managed to haul that peat out of its bag!

I have one brother, and we are great friends. He is in NY, as are my aunt and nephew, so I visit whenever I can. My 13-year-old nephew is GREAT! I have treasured every moment with him. We have oil painted together. I exposed him to ice skating for the first time (and I'm a terrible skater), but one night I had a dream we were on the ice together, so I had the brilliant idea of introducing him to this.

In fact, I'm such a klutz on the ice, my way of stopping is to slam into the rink wall.

Needless to say, I don't really skate anymore -- especially after a couple of bad falls.

My parents have retired and moved to Florida. I visit them when I can. They are in love with their grandaughter and spoil her.

My nephew Ben was the first grandchild, so each child has gotten his/her moment in the Florida sun.

I adore animals, but I'm really partial to cats of all types. I'm so unlike other members of my family, all who really don't like animals. I think I got my animal-loving gene from my great uncle and my grandfather, both of whom raised homing pigeons and who loved animals.

Well, I hope that helps give you a better sense of who I am as a person. It's really nice for a change to write about a topic other than the one I typically write about. Maybe I'll do this sort of thing again!