Hello. Welcome to episode number 18 of the show up podcast. This is our Mother's Day mashup.

This episode is really important to me. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, a lot of time

preparing for it. I get that Mother's Day can be a really complex holiday for a lot of people and for so many

varied reasons. And because of that, I had some trouble as I was working to come up with an idea

and a concept for this week's episode. And then I realized that what I wanted more than anything

else was for us all to have a sense of solidarity.

And I wanted to be able to offer some insight from as broad an array as I possibly could of

the experience of motherhood, the experience of the relationships that we have with our mothers. And of course, I cannot represent

every single experience, but here is my best attempt at a Mother's Day offering that hopefully

will be meaningful to you. Enjoy.

I will say that I am the mother of two amazing boys. I will say that I am not a traditional mother and that I am not their biological mother,

nor am I their legal parent or guardian. The first time I got that question about

when are you going to have your own kids? How it just stopped me cold because it never occurred

to me that I didn't already have my own kids. You know if you if you get the highs and you get the lows

then you get the title. I get the lows, then you get the title.

I am the mother of two teenagers, two toddlers, and my penny that passed away, and she would be eight years old.

I'm a mom of two, a son who is 12, a daughter who is eight. I also am a stepmom to some really

amazing grownups and mother-in-law to their spouses. And grandma or Mimi, which is what they

call me, to four grandkids, three boys and a girl. Hi, I'm a mother of four.

I have three sons and one daughter.

My oldest is 10 and then my next is seven.

And then my daughter is five and then my last baby is three.

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