Momsterism

I am a 38 year old woman who grew up in moderate poverty in a new and coming neighbourhood of YEG in the 80's. I have found records showing my ancestor's living here in the late 1800's and those ancestors are part of history books now. I have learnt so much from putting one foot in front of the other through life. Against all the odds and challenges, I am now a power house mother of B:20 G:15 SG  (Super Girl aka Step Daughter - Girl) :11. I worked in a daycare from the early age of fourteen, caring for up to 21 kids at a time; then becoming a mom from the age of 17.   I not only have raised my kids, but I grew up with other amazing women who have been pillars of strength to me as we watched our children grow. All my "heart string" nieces and nephews are a huge part of my life and the women who raised them are my "heart string" sisters . As I watch my teenage daughter grow up with no support system around her, I wonder if I can help other people lik...

Thinking today about my genealogy "The Larger Picture". I got to thinking about my Great x3 Grandfather; who l recently discovered was a large part of my city's history. I used to think that l would be happy, just coasting through life, taking care of myself. I never wanted to own any thing, as long as I could just "get through life". My family really didn't have much while I was growing up, we were poor. We lived in a home without a telephone or cable in the 80's, when no one else we knew was without. It wasn't unheard of for our home to be without power or have to deal with a limiter on our power meter- if the man from the power company felt compassionate enough. (A limiter basically allowed us to have lights, run the furnace and use of much more would trip our electricity breaker. We would have to unplug all out electrical items and go outside to restart it. For example, we couldn't use the microwave and washing machine at the same ...