Welcome to MOPS. If you are new or returning, we have an exciting year for you. I am proud to be a part of this wonderful group. The Mentor Mom is the Old Lady of the group, the one who has “been there, done that.”
Believe me, that is my only claim to fame. I don’t want anyone to think I am an expert or that I have done everything right. Being a Mentor is a scary thing because no one else has the right answers for you. Your situation is unique. You are your own personality, with kids who are Masterpiece Originals. You are going to have to find the pathway that is right for you and your family. I can point you to the only Guide who will never leave or forsake you.
I am a living testimony that we can survive the preschool years and that there is life after children! My husband, Joe, and I have been married for almost 37 years. Not only do I still like the guy, we love each other more than the day we were married.
Our five children are adults now, and they continue to give us the gift of their love—we had calls from as far away as South America for Mother’s and Father’s Day. All have completed their education and are gainfully employed. The girls are divorced, each with a five-year-old son. So, we are living testimonies that you can survive divorce, the biggest disaster a child can experience, in my opinion.
Our oldest son was married this summer. After his sisters’ experiences, he was extremely fearful. Joe was so proud that all the children arrived for the wedding. (We had eight days to get it all together. Tom is in the Army, a Special Forces soldier, and he hasn’t had much time between deployments.) One son left a brand new business in Colorado and another a brand new job in Boston. They weren’t in West Virginia long, but they came to stand by their brother. We watched the man and remembered the babe the toddler, the awkward middle schooler, the self-conscious graduate. What a blessed woman my new daughter-in-law is!
Families are a Good Thing. The time you invest now pays incalculable dividends in later life. Some days you think you cannot put one foot in front of the other, the kids are sick, the husband is in a Mood, you wonder if you will survive, or even if you want to! The kids only look lovable when they are asleep and romance has gone out the window with the dishtowel you threw. I have been there.
I do pray each of you will hang in there to experience the rewards that my husband and I are now enjoying. Love doesn’t have to die, it can grow and multiply, and you can bask in its glow.
Blessings!
Charlotte Snead
September, 1999