Each Wednesday we will be featuring a member of our writing team. We hope to further grow our community by sharing a bit more about the women that make up Rochester MN Moms Blog!
This week…meet Colleen!
Colleen is a former middle school English teacher turned stay-at-home-mom, moved to Rochester in 2005. Texan by birth, Floridian by high school graduation, she has truly found her home here.
Photo credit: Marit Williams Photography
1) What has been most surprising to you as a mother?
Parenting never gets “easier.” I really thought having two babies and a dog in diapers was tough. But parenting a 5th and 6th grader is no walk in the park. Sure, they can dress and feed themselves. But the battles can be so emotionally draining. The good news? When I reminiscence about the baby days, my first thought isn’t, “Why does my baby wake up EVERY time I put her in the crib?” Instead, I immediately recall the feeling of her asleep in my arms. I can easily find an example at each stage that makes the age so special. Fingers crossed I will be able to look back and say the same thing about adolescence.
2) What song do you know all the words to?
None! If anything, I know only incorrect lyrics. I have horrible hearing and misunderstand all the words. For years I thought Phil Collins was singing “physical attraction” in his song “Invisible Touch.” Oh my gosh. I just looked up the actual lyrics. My version makes absolutely no sense. It isn’t even the same number of syllables!
3) What is your favorite word?
Splendiferous. It’s just as wonderful as it sounds. It’s an adjective (What kind of former English teacher would I be if I didn’t mention the part of speech?) that means “extraordinarily impressive.” Thanks to the book, Tubby and the Poo-Bah by Al Perkins circa 1972, I learned the word splendiferous at age 4. My dad read the book to me over and over. I loved it so much that after multiple checkouts from the library, we bought the book and I gave it to my dad for Father’s Day in 1973.
4) What is your guilty tv pleasure?
Jane the Virgin. It’s the 21st Century equivalent of All My Children, my favorite soap opera from my junior high school days. Who doesn’t love a show that has a mysterious identical twin show up for a little plot twist? Even better when that identical twin secretly puts the other twin into a coma and switches identities? So many over-the-top storylines, so much fun.
5) How do you take your coffee?
Espresso with warm milk. Sounds fancy, but it’s quite simple. With my Nespresso machine and a microwave, I’m fully-caffeinated in minutes each morning.
6) What book had a profound impact on you and how old were you when you read it?
The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read it in 1993 (the year it was published). I was 25 years old and in my third year teaching middle school English. I couldn’t wait to share it with my students. Considered the original dystopian novel, The Giver left me with so many unanswered questions. The conversations I had with students about the novel were profound. I’m not 100% sure if it was the essence of the story, the timing in my teaching career, the composition of students in that class, or perhaps a combination. However, I feel like the book changed me for the better both as a reader and a teacher.
7) What is an irrational fear you have?
Snakes! I have no horrible story about a personal encounter (although the time my dad found one in the toilet at our cabin certainly didn’t help assuage my fears), they just scare the heck out of me. When my kids were little, I tried to fake a love of snakes whenever we visited Quarry Hill, but the truth is, I was shaking inside. After a ranger at a state park picked up a giant one-eyed snake and I fled to our car, the gig was up.
8) What is your favorite thing about your life?
The people in it! The one I married, the ones I birthed, the parents who brought me into this world, my brother, my sisters by marriage, AND the people whose friendships have made them my family. My Myers-Briggs test (taken when I was in college) says I’m an ENFJ. Even though I feel far more like an “I” than an “E” these days, my people are the best part of my life.
