The Picnic Is Cancelled

Hey Mama,

I tried something new this week! You can listen to the newsletter HERE!

Camp mom here reporting that we've survived our 3rd week of "summer".  My friend and I laughed that our white visors and whistles were already broken.  Ten more weeks to go. Lots of deep breaths. 

Just like you, our summer plans don't look like we had hoped. No camps, no trips back to see our family and friends for 6 weeks and limited sports activity options. One of my summer highlights, our family picnic, was even canceled. Our annual tradition of gathering three to four generations is on hold until next year. 

My Aunt who organizes this picnic sent out the cancelation announcement with the best picture of my nana and her five sister-in-laws who were the matriarchs of our family. Something about this picture made me stop and really think about my roots. Even though I look at a picture of my nana almost daily, I really looked at her in a different way this time.

I thought about my nana and papa and how hard they worked, how much they sacrificed, how my papa came to America through Ellis Island and sponsored his sisters to come on different occasions. I thought about how my nana worked at a young age and only went back to finish high school because a truant officer found out she was skipping school to work. I thought about how she opened her own catering business and ran it successfully with no college education while raising four kids. And then I saw her strong arms and legs, her soft belly, her welcoming eyes and her enormous heart. 

I thought about my other grandma who was brave enough to have my dad at age 18. I thought about how she handled divorce, single motherhood, another divorce and is still going at 92 years old.  I thought about my Grandpa who served our country and fought a hard battle against cancer. 

I thought about my parent's grandparents and their parents. I thought about my mom being the first female to graduate from college, raise two kids, work full time and go back to school for a masters degree so she could eventually become a principal, all while my dad worked two jobs. I traced back my roots near and far and felt enormous gratitude. Their experiences are woven into my DNA and my body size and shape are largely passed on from each of them. So much of what women experience today is pressure to be thin, to be somebody that maybe isn't in their genetic cards. How many times have you heard, "don't want to end up looking like granny or gramps or Auntie or Uncle". 

So instead of fighting to be a shape that I'm not, I want to look back at where I've come from and feel proud and grateful for who has come before me. I want to end up looking like the ancestors I'm proud to call my own. They made countless sacrifices so that I could be alive. I don't want to spend my precious time fighting for something that doesn't matter and takes me further away from who I'm meant to be. 

TBD on whether our picnic will happen next year so in the meantime, it's back to camp mom. I'm sure my kids will start telling me that in addition to my visor and whistle being broken, I'm starting to sound and look like my mom.  

I'm ok with that, because she looks just like my nana and they're both beautiful. 

This week, take a few minutes and find some pictures of your ancestors. Have a moment of appreciation for what they did so you could be here. Be grateful for your roots.