This week, Froggie picked the topic: I'd like to know what you have learned about each other by reading these entries. What has surprised you the most? The least? What is one thing you've always wanted to ask your "partner," but just haven't. (She partnered us with someone and I got Mom of Many, a.k.a. Susanna.)
Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many--This one is about me. :)
Moma Rock
From reading Susanna's blog and also getting to know her through various e-mails, I can tell that we have some things in common.
For starters, we both have three kids...two boys and a girl. In both cases, the girl is the youngest of the three. Our kids overlap in age only once, at 6 years old. Her other two are older and my other two are younger.
Also, we're both Jewish and are on different paths than where we started from. She was not raised Jewish, but is Jewish now for all intents and purposes. I became Ba'al Tshuva, which is a transition from my Reform roots.
We both moved halfway across the country, but in opposite directions. She moved from the east to the midwest and I moved from the midwest to the east.
What I also know about Susanna to be true:
She loves to knit.
She's a stay-at-home soccer mom.
She is great to go to for advice (given she's more like Lucy from "Peanuts" than any Disney character).
She's a strong advocate for her kids. If someone hurts any of her kids, she will go all mama bear on them.
She's been through some hard times and came out on top. Her theme song is "If You're Going through Hell" by Rodney Atkins.
She's at a place where she's comfortable with her self image and not afraid to show it. She is also very direct and doesn't care what others think.
She's philosophical without even trying. She'll take a situation and turn it into a life lesson that can benefit both her and whomever is reading her blog.
I actually met Susanna a while before we started this blog project. Froggie (a.k.a. Tracey) introduced us a while back through Facebook and we started talking. We learned new things about each other. She helped me through a rough period of time when my husband lost his horrible job. She had been through similar situations with her husband and even offered to introduce the two of them to each other so they could talk further.
When I was back in Chicago for a visit in the summer of 2010, I got to meet her and her adorable daughter in person. That was really nice. I think the in-person connection strengthened our virtual friendship.
When my daughter was born, she not only got her a cute little dress, but also knit her a stuffed elephant! How sweet is that?!?
Our lives tend to get ahead of us at times, but we still find ways to check in with one another, even if it's just for a quick hello. Doing this blog project has definitely helped!
As for the question I'm dying to ask...Until now, I was under the impression that Susanna converted to Judaism, as she is very strong in her Jewish beliefs. She considers herself an honorary Jew and will fight tooth and nail to keep Christmas songs out of her kids' schools. In lieu of this, I will be asking her next week: "As someone who was raised non-Jewish, what do you find most compelling about Judaism?" I know a few people who have converted to Judaism and seem stronger in their faith than people who were born and raised Jewish. While Susanna has not actually converted, she's so believably Jewish that most people (including myself) don't realize this fact. So it interests me to know where her strength in conviction comes from.
Tune in next week for the answer to this and some other questions I asked her in hopes of getting to know her even better!
From left to right: Susanna (Mom of Many), her lovely little girl, Tracey (Froggie), my sweet (and sometimes silly) son, me. (July, 2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment