My life with two daughters, a dozen sheep, and marketing

Sometimes I get so engrossed in work and family life that I forget to take care of myself. In marketing, you’re working with multiple departments to achieve their goals. As a parent, you’re working to help your kids make smart choices and shuttling them around. As a spouse, you’re running around town looking for a tractor part that was supposed to be in one store but wasn’t, so you’re checking all the other tractor-ish stores in town even though you don’t even know what the part looks like. Honestly, I wouldn’t change any of those scenarios for the world – except maybe the last one. However, self-care is often an afterthought that gets pushed so far to the back burner that when you push the microwave light button to illuminate your stovetop, it doesn’t even reach that far back. It’s like the dark alley of priorities that you don’t want to walk down alone at night. You get the picture. Sheep, on the other hand, are masters at self-care. When they aren’t birthing or raising a lamb, the...

I LOVE learning something new. If I could pick any career in the world, it would be professional student. Actually, is that even a thing? And how would one make money as a professional student? Maybe I haven’t thought this through. But I digress. As I said, I love to learn, and I think it’s a pretty sweet life skill that keeps me on the cutting edge of marketing if not the bleeding edge. However, my daughters are at the age where they know everything already. Or they just think I know nothing. I’m not 100% sure which is the case. Either way, I hope it’s a phase, and I’m doing my part to lead by example. However, they’re the type to learn by doing, so they may be in for some disappointments before they understand that they have to keep learning and growing to be successful, and that their ol’ mom might have been right after all. The later is probably a stretch. Here's my struggle with them; I’m wondering if you can relate. Both of my daughters are pretty stinkin’ good livestock ...

My husband and I are approaching that “fun” age as parents where our oldest daughter may be allowed to date. I say “may” because I’m hoping she sticks to her values and doesn’t settle for less than what she deserves. Isn’t that what we all want for our children? Of course, I’m full of advice for her – after all, I was a teenage girl once, too. I try to keep most of my advice in my head, especially since she’s pretty independent, likes to make her own mistakes, and generally thinks her “old” mom knows nothing. Now, I’m no dating or relationship expert. Yes, I’ve been married for sixteen years, but I also dated my fair share of…let’s not say losers, but you get the idea. The advice I received when I was my daughter’s age was, “Life is like a buffet, you have to try a little of everything before you know what you like.” Ha! I piled a few questionable choices on my plate before I found something just right, that’s for sure! However, I think I have one gem of pretty decent advice that I’m n...