I Want to Hear from You! (plus a chance to win free jewelry!)

Hello and Happy Friday to you all! Today I'm announcing a Special Project that I need your help on!

I want to find out who inspires us as women, and I'm petitioning for your thoughts! Keep reading to learn more:
I know that we all have women in our lives that we look up to as role models (for instance--it's not a coincidence that I'm posting our answers right before Mother's Day, since I know that many of us think first of our moms...), and so I'm submitting to you all the question above, and hope that you'll send me your responses!
And to further entice you, one lucky reader will win this lovely necklace, courtesy of Lily Leighs jewelry!
To enter, send your thoughts to the email address above! The winner will be announced on Friday, May 7th!
Also, I wanted to extend an invitation to all of you local Northern Colorado readers to join me at Roller Derby this weekend! It will be my first ever Bout and I'm so excited to see these women in action!

For more information, email me at shillberry@stephaniehillberry.com or click on the "foco derby" button on the left!

I can't wait to read more about who inspires you!
Have a great weekend--
steph

Multidimensional Mothers

I just finished posting on my other blog, Cigars in the Parlour (on current events), about the 17 teenage pregnancies from one high school in Massachusetts, and it got me thinking about motherhood.  Okay, that and the baby zone I'm currently living in among my family and friends (you know, where everyone around you is having babies).  

It is true that I am not a mother yet, but I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the kind of person I want to be when I become one.  I am relieved, for one, that I'm well past the age of the aforementioned teens.  Who wants such a huge responsibility at such a young age?  They didn't even have a chance to figure out who they want to be as adults, much less as moms.  I, on the other hand, have had some time to figure out who I want to be as a grown up.

Probably most of you have come to the same conclusions that I have.  I want to be a mother, but also more than that.  Though I'm sure I'll want to have playdates and will talk endlessly about my kids, I also want to have responsibilities and passions outside of my children.  I don't know many women who feel differently.  

Fortunately for us women, we have been gifted with the unique ability to juggle many identities at once.  Mother.  Wife.  Friend.  Employee.  Volunteer.  Activist.  Leader.  I'm not sure we could be solely defined by one role even if we wanted to (I make an exception for women who've just had babies--you're pretty much just "mom," even if you wanted to do more.).  

It is this multidimensional quality that also makes us women great community leaders (a subject I will be focusing a lot on in the months to come).  In fact, right now I'm in the process of developing tools for women who want to tap even more into their leadership--particularly mothers.  So, if you have any great stories--or maybe your own personal testimony--of how you've become a multidimensional mother leading in your town, please email me at shillberry@comcast.net.  I'd love to hear from you!  Maybe you can become a great role model for those teenage moms in Massachusetts!