During the month of August, I stepped back into cabin life, where I had the space to remember the fears and excitement I had 14 years ago, shortly after my daughter was conceived (August 19). The sense of adventure I was ready for -- simultaneous with the concerns I had that my heart might not be big enough to accommodate parenting after a lifetime of largely solo ventures.

 

I also had the space to thoroughly enjoy my 8-year-old son's excitement about everything from swimming to "sandball" to running with dogs. His enthusiasm, paired with my daughter's apathy (recognizable from my own youth) about anything other than reading books, made for an interesting, cocooned month as a parent.

 

And... it led to my own soul-searching conversations with others, and with myself, about what comes next. If you haven't yet read the series of commentaries I have written from my month, prompted by the reading of Oriah Mountain Dreamer's "The Invitation" during the first week, please take a look:

 

Part 1: The Invitation
Part 2: Can mothers have longings?
Part 3: Intimacy? What's that?
Part 4: Can you make change happen?
Part 5: Being in love with life: examining a week 

Part 6: What holds us in place?

 

I also was invited to launch a blog at the Working Mother website. Stay tuned as I develop my "Having It All as a Single Mom" blog there.

We'll be in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, September 9. Registration is open only three more days for this afternoon of in-depth conversation, a great lunch, free parking, a social hour reception after. Sponsor California Cryobank is offering a free vial of sperm in a raffle drawing, along with other prizes.

 

I'm looking for women interested in meeting at a weekend retreat at Earthrise in northern San Francisco in March 2013. On October 20, we'll have a small gathering in Orange County, California. Send an email to info @ choicemoms.org to express your interest in either of these.

 

Use the EVENTS tab at ChoiceMoms.org to find up-to-date information.