I am a 59 year old mom to 5 children ages 13 to 25. Recently widowed, after almost 28 years of living life with my wonderful life partner, I am now figuring out what the last third of my life is going to look like. I am also a friend, a sister, a daughter, a homeschooler, a self-employed bookkeeper, an entrepreneur, and now, I hope, a writer – starting with this blog.
I have also, over the years, been a corporate employee, worked for both the federal and provincial government, worked in retail, made pizza, worked for an accountant, been a payables/receivables clerk, taught at a college and worked for a property management firm. There’s probably a few more that I’ve forgotten!
I used to live (and work) to travel, and then along came all the kiddos. As the kids grew we did make some great memories, the most recent being a trip to the UK and Iceland in 2018, and in January of 2020, just before the world went into lockdown we took the youngest three to Florida, with a wonderful stop in Savannah, Georgia.
We are a family of six now, with three of the kids still at home. For the almost 20 years we were foster parents, and all those kids – well two are long term foster kids (soon to be adopted adults!!) who moved in just days after I turned 40, and the three still at home we adopted. There were many more kids who came to stay with us over the years, many of whom we still keep in touch.
All this to say that I have been there, done that and more! Life has been hectic, exciting, stressful, joyful, incredibly sad and incredibly happy, all rolled into one.
My hope for Forging Our Own Path is that it will become a chronicle of this new phase in my family’s life, and more specifically my path forward.