I am birth mother to three children. My first-born child will soon be 40. My youngest is still a teenager. About midway between those two my middle child was born. Each of my children has a completely different personality and different life experiences. (Largely because the circumstances of my own life have changed so much over the years.)

We’ve lived in different states, and different countries as I travelled the world and had an amazing professional career. I currently live in Australia.

 

My Family

My family, however, extends beyond my loving husband of 20 years and my three wonderful children. I am proud to be Mum to an amazing young girl who joined my family in the early 1990s as a foster child (and ‘Nan’ to her lovely children). I learned a lot from being a foster parent. I will always be in awe of my foster daughter’s ability to cope with the tough circumstances of her life.

Plus, in recent years I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a number of young people around the world who haven’t been lucky enough to know what it is like to have a mother who cares. So I’ve taken  a few of them under my wing.

On this site, you’ll meet two of my internet family; Michelle and Kyn.

Michelle and Kyn both live in the US. They have a great deal in common, including being mothers to their own kids. They love to write, as I do, so we’re sharing this space together.

When I first introduced them to each other, they thought they’d be like internet cousins. But the more time they spend talking and supporting each other as they create posts here, the clearer it becomes they’re more like internet sisters!

I’m their internet Mom. And proud of them, just as I’m proud of my other children.

Michelle and Kyn were both foster children in the US foster care system. Now adults, they have an Australian iMom. (Plus they also picked up Pa John, another Australian writer.) Our online foster family is growing.

 

My Experience as a Mother

As it nears 40 years since the birth of my first child, I thought I’d reflect on the various ways motherhood has helped shape my life and make the woman I am today.

Here’s some of the many ways I’ve been viewed as a mother. (And we all know society views mothers in different ways.)

• Young mother. Thanks to my first.
• Older mother with a baby. Pity my youngest!
• Unmarried mother. In the days when most unmarried mothers were forced to give their child up for adoption.
• Respectable mother. Wonderful man, my husband!
• Mother with an ex. Living apart from a child’s father.
• Working mother. First with ‘just a job’. Later with an exciting career.
• Foster mother. One of the best decisions of my life.
• Mother with a nanny. And I should say I was lucky to find one of the world’s best nannies. Wish I could have kept her longer!
• Stay-at-home mother. A completely different set of challenges after being a working mum for so many years.
• Home-schooling mother. After I gave up my career, I spent some time home-schooling. I learned a lot from that experience. 🙂
• City mother. My career years were spent working in one city or another.
• Country mother. I grew up in the city but as a child I loved visiting family who lived in the country. So I wanted to give my kids a dose of country life.
• Off-grid mother. We live off the grid now with my youngest child. My husband and I love it. So does our child.
• Internet mother. Despite living in different countries, I get to enjoy developing new relationships.

As you can see, I’ve had a lot of different roles and experiences in my years as a mother. (Which might explain why I’m never stuck for an answer when anyone asks me a parenting question. lol.)

 

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