Brenda

Greetings! I am delighted to be one of the five contributors to "At Work, At Play or At Home All Day," a blog which I hope will become a forum for women to discuss our life experiences. Whether you are a single working woman or a stay-at-home mom, we aspire to create here a network of support and fellowship among us all.

That said, please allow me to introduce myself... After living for 27 years as a true blue midwestern girl, I flew the coop and now embrace the southern lifestyle in Texas where I've been for the last 10 years. Marrying my husband, Kurt, is what brought me here (along with a healthy dose of German Wanderlust), and we are the (usually) proud parents of a four year old son. Kurt (who lived in Houston at the time) and I met in grad school while we were enrolled in an overseas German degree program in Austria. (Let me tell you, when one falls in love in Austria, those hills truly ARE alive with the sound of music, honey!) After tying the knot, I joined him in Houston where we both continued our careers as high school German teachers. Fast forward 7 years and our son is born. I took one look at his teeny tiny, defenseless face and decided to resign and stay at home with him. That decision might have been a bit hasty. Although I know I made the right choice for me and my family, I missed work terribly back then...the social interaction, the intellectual stimulus, the ownership of a classroom, and the control (as a first time mom, I felt really out of control...what a wake up call having a baby is and finding out that the universe does NOT in fact revolve around you). So, needless to say, I struggled a bit the first couple of years with my son and had to find my way. It turns out, after dedicating myself solely to my child for the first several years of his life, my way involved working part time. I am currently entering my second year as an adjunct instructor of German at a local community college. I teach one evening class per semester while my son whoops it up at home with Daddy.

The female experience takes us all down so many roads in this life. Sharing our experiences, knowledge, successes, and, yes, those ever frequent failures with one another allows us the inspiration and hope we all need to continue on this journey. I look forward to sharing it with you!