Such Powerful Moms

 Last Thursday I headed off into the unknown.  I drove north into New England first to see my wonderful friend Rachel and then to a retreat in Rye, NH at the historic Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel.  New England is on fire with color right now and it was hard to keep my eyes on the road.  The Wentworth didn't disappoint either.

I had only a small idea of what I was doing. I have been interested in The Power of Moms since late spring--an organization dedicated to the professional development of moms.  On a single but persistent feeling I signed up to attend this retreat.  I didn't know a soul--seven hours is a long way to go when you don't know a soul.  And thank heavens I didn't let anything stop me from going forward with this idea that I had.


I am so thankful for the Power of Moms!  We had over eighteen hours of presentation and discussion on every topic under the sun related to motherhood.  We filled every minute going over legal systems, family identity and economy, finding balance, ideas for household management, and taking care of the person inside the mom.

From these powerful moms I learned volumes.  I'm tempted to edit this photo with arrows and text:  "this is Catherine and she has two sets of twins under the age of 4 and she smiles when she talks about it" and "this is Leslie who is a kool-aid Mom and artist" and "this is Saren who is the brains behind this organization" and "this is Anne who makes breakfast the best time of the day since that's the only time her husband is with the kids" and "this is Lauralee who teaches art to kids and is taming teenagers".  Every one of these women was there to learn but had so much to teach, too.

 I met my roommate Megan there in NH.  All of her kids are older than mine and I loved listening to her stories as I tried to figure out her mothering style.  I wish she lived next door to me (and not in Maine) now so that she could pull me aside every now and then and say "you know, that one thing you're doing is good, but that other thing that you think matters really doesn't matter that much."


More on conference content in a another post.  But go to my friend Sarah's blog for great photos of New Hampshire and the Wentworth and for a more detailed description of things.  OK, so go to her blog more often that that to be inspired and laugh, too.