A little bit about my background
I was born an only child in Green Bay, WI. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones as I look back on my childhood and think that it was pretty darn good, with lots of fond memories growing up.
I grew up in neighborhoods where friends were easy to make and there was lots of playtime, indoors and especially outdoors. Making forts, bicycling, games, finding pollywogs, roller skating, running through sprinklers, we loved to play!
Being an only child I did get lonely at times, but I was very good at entertaining myself and creating my own fun. I loved practicing gymnastics, building box homes for our kitties and games I could play alone or watching Gilligan’s Island.
At the age of five, my parents separated, which, in my young mind, was a good thing considering they seemed to argue a lot. I then lived with my mom
and saw my dad regularly.
When I was seven, my dad moved to California, so I would visit him and my stepmother in the summers and we would take road trips, go camping, fishing, exploring and much more.
Adventures like these are still a big part of my life today. I love
maps, finding and going to new places and exploring! Thanks Dad!
At the age of eleven, my mother moved to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) so she could pursue her soul’s dream of creating art. We had to separate during the school year, so I went to live in California with my dad and stepmom.
In the summers, I would return to visit my mother in Milwaukee and relatives in Green Bay. It was a blast! I had so many special times and created tons of fun memories! In those times, I never considered living apart from my mom as a bad thing. In retrospect, it was like having the best of both worlds. I had amazing experiences and met lifelong friends.
Living in California, I did miss my mother, something awful. I would write to her regularly and in almost every card I drew her a little stick figure dancing girl with long flowing hair, holding a balloon with the sun shining above, sometimes in the rain,
but always with big smiles.
I wanted her to know that I was happy and doing good….. and I was.
At age 21, I moved to Milwaukee to be close to my mom, my best friend. To this day we still have a wonderful bond and relationship, I so enjoy spending time with her, every moment is a gift.
If you were to ask people close to me what my personality is like, I bet I’d be right in saying that they think of me as a very positive person. I am the, “glass is always half full” kind of person. I can always seem to see through the bad and be able to find the bright side.
There was an 11 year timeframe in my life when I got to be with my late husband, Eric, we always had the best times together. We loved camping together, biking together, playing games together and just having fun. He and his son would like to make fun of me because I would get up in the morning and always be cheerful and ready to take on the day, mocking and humorously saying “Good Morning World” in a high-spirited kid-like voice.
This phrase then became my playful theme, one I still love using on my Facebook community page that hosts many beautiful and inspiring inner child memes and photos! Eric was a huge inspiration for ‘iheart my inner child’ and its inception. I miss him dearly, but am forever grateful to have created so many awesome memories and have him in my life.
In my 40s, I started down a spiritual and personal growth path, wanting to expand on the potential of who I was. I wanted to do something that I loved and that would also help others! I was listening to an audible book one time that said to find and focus on my uniqueness and pursue that. Loving my playful inner child is the first thing that came to mind. I wanted to extend that special part of me out to others. I wanted to share how it made me feel and inspire others to embrace their inner child.
I feel I have always had a kinship to the joyful, playful part of my inner child. I feel very blessed that it is just naturally ingrained in my spirit.
Through all my years along the way I have always had a deep love for the ‘inner child’ spirit. To stay curious, be positive, love the simple things, seek adventure and to keep learning.
This seed was planted long ago and now I want to help inspire others to connect to their fun, playful and loving inner child.
