Hi, I’m Amy.
I have MS, I’m a Mom…but there’s more to the story.
I have MS: For more than 15 years, I’ve lived with a chronic illness. One of the biggest challenges of chronic illness is maintaining social relationship. I’d like to provide people with MS – and other chronic illnesses – a place to belong, to share experiences, and just to remember you’re not alone. Selfishly, I want a place where I’m not alone too.
I’m a Mom: In 2017, my older son joined the teenage world. My younger son finished elementary school. I’ve gone from babyproofing and early school years to a whole new planet. As I read tragic teen stories, I’m terrified by the consequences of making parenting mistakes. I can’t bear the thought of mothers of teenagers going through this scary period alone.
There’s more to the story: We’re selling ourselves short and shirking responsibilities if we define ourselves too narrowly. We owe ourselves, our families, and our world so much more.
- We need to speak up.
How many people know what you want or need? The best way to make sure is to tell people.
- We need to fight for ourselves.
If you won’t fight for yourself, how can you expect anyone else to do it? You are your own best advocate. You know better than anyone else what you need.
- We need to fight for our kids.
People think they know what’s best for our kids. Those people can be wrong. When they are, we need to tell them. I know my county school board members wished I didn’t stand up for my kids as much as I did. They probably got tired of reading my comments on their discussion forums or in the local newspaper. When I spoke at a school board meeting, I saw the assistant chairman squirm (and I’m not sorry).
- We need to fight for our world.
We want future generations – not just our kids – to have better lives than we have. We want to fix the problems we can and help prepare them for ones we leave behind. That means we need to act.
For me, MS Mom boils down to community. Let’s build one where we can all share, learn, and give advice.
