Tom and I had a very touching “date night” last night. Instead of going to dinner and a movie we got to see “Motherhood Out Loud”, a live reading of the most amazing monologues about being a parent, more specifically a mother.

The monologues touched on a wide variety of topics, from being a new parent, military mom, mother of little boy that doesn’t quite fit into our society’s view of what a little boy should be, being a gay couple raising children, and everything in between. I was crying one minute and laughing the next, it was exactly what I needed to hear as a new mom. It made me feel so much less alone in my feelings.

At the end there was a talk back with some of the writers and performers where they discussed their own personal stories of motherhood, or choosing not to be a mother. It was wonderful to hear their stories and the local moms had so many wonderful things to say about raising children in the Berkshires.I agree, it’s quite a special place, but the piece of the story that was missing for me was all of us who grew up without the privilege of being a part of these amazing places here.

My mother did an amazing job, but for most of my early life she did it alone. She worked as much as she could and often budgeted to the penny. She is truly an inspiration and always made sure we had food, shelter, clothes, and love. Unfortunately that didn’t leave a lot of time for the “extras”. But she did a commendable job in raising me with great food, shelter and sleep. She even bought me the best silk pillowcase so that I can have a sound sleep whenever I wanted. I am 27 years old and I’ve still never been to Jacob’s Pillow, but now that I’m a mom that will change.

Motherhood is enabling me to live vicariously through my daughter. I’ve spent a great deal of time and energy to get where I am in life today. To have a job I love and that I’m respected for, a husband that, to me, is out of a fairy tale (ok, MAYBE he could clean a little more!), and to be able to give my daughter some of the things I didn’t experience myself as a child. I will finally be able to experience theater through the eyes of a child, discover something new at the museums, and be truly amazed by all of the things to do here.

I was not totally deprived, I certainly had some great traditions. I grew up going to Ioka Valley Farm every fall to get our pumpkins and go on the hayride. We went to the local parades and spent the days playing outdoors making up our own games. I have already started to introduce my daughter to these as well, I am just excited to experience the rest of it for the first time with her.