Hey there! I'm Melissa.
I’m so happy you found your way to this little spot on the interwebs. Grab a lovely drink (may I suggest coffee?) and get comfy. All settled? Okay, I’ll go first:
I am a writer, executive coach, mom of three and wife of one. When we are home in LA, I spend a lot of time driving. Full stop. Our youngest is in high school and is a working actor and so….driving. Sometimes we live places other than Los Angeles. See next paragraph.
I have been married to my college sweetheart, Casey, for 28 years. He is a software engineer who gets to work for Disney as an Imagineer–I know, pretty awesome, right? He works on Mouse-related parks around the world, and it has been very cool to get to live as an expat in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.
Our three daughters (23, 20 and 16) are actors, writers, musicians and generally creative people.
Basically, they have interests that seem to need a lot of lessons and an increasing amount of equipment. Our house is full of various daughters at any one time, ideas and chatter and the comings and goings of busy, creative people.
With our eldest two daughters, we are in the weird stage of parenting where we miss them so much and are also so proud of how they are managing their own lives. And are also really glad we live close enough they come do laundry on occasion. 🙂
A little history...
I was pre-med in college and got a degree in Biology and a Masters in Public Health (wash yer hands!). But I didn’t go to medical school and I turned to writing when I found myself as an at-home mom with little ones. I started blogging because I had a lot of things to say as I processed the huge transition from what I *thought* my life would be like and what it was *actually* like. (Anyone else? HAHAHAHA!) I started to write for some awesome parenting magazines and I appreciate that I still get to think out loud with writing and connect with people as I process our shared experiences.
Training as an executive coach has given me a unique set of skills to come alongside people as we travel this world together.
My goal is to normalize things about living as a person in this day and age. Life feels hard and isolating and sometimes we forget that EVERYONE ELSE is struggling, too. You and I are not alone. I am so glad you are here.
fun facts
(The Idealist Teacher—my top career recommendation is a fitness instructor. Hang out with me for about 3 minutes to know why this is HILARIOUS.)
Enneagram: 1w2 (The Reformer. Likened to the cultural aura of the Amish. Also, Switzerland.)
Connectedness, Input, Belief, Intellection, Achiever.
Sacrifice yourself for someone you love AND get to read books? Sign me up!
Here, you can expect to find stuff about:
- Humaning/Lifestyle: tips, stories and thoughts related to being a human on this planet and small, simple ways we can try to do a little better. Recycling? Yes. Global injustice? Yes. The guy who stole my parking spot? Also, yes. (The jerk.)
And I write about relationships with other humans: sister, friend, daughter, and wife stuff. - Parenting: mothering is hard and, well…..kinda mostly hard. At least for me. But, you know, amazing. (In a hard way, to be clear.) The enormity of the task of influencing humans is pretty staggering. My girls and I are working (and have worked!) through a lot of life stages together and it seems a shame to let all that pain and suffering go to waste. When I say ‘worked through’, I mean we are all still alive.
- Stage mom: I find myself in the unusual position of being a mom to child actors. It’s been a weird and wacky ride and I share about our journey and how we are trying to just raise decent humans through the interesting lens of them being child actors in Hollywood. And, because I get so many questions about it, I provide some tips and resources that we have found helpful.
- Faith: the hard and ugly questions most of us have. Because, jeepers, I am just struggling with my journey. (When I say ‘journey’ I mean the ugly ultramarathon kind. In the dark. Uphill both ways.) As a long-time person of faith (I consider myself a recovering Evangelical), I have a lot of questions and sometimes I’m really mad at God. I don’t understand a lot of things. I’m no scholar, but I figure it helps to write things down to process them. Humaning is hard. Doing it with hope makes it a little better. (p.s. I love Jesus but I swear a little. Sometimes a lot. Depends if I’m driving. You’ve been warned.)
I love to share all of this through:
- Processes: I think about and try to find a better way to do things. I look for the hack with food, family life, travel tips and the stuff of everyday living. If there’s a thing we all do (like try to pick a movie on Netflix together), know that I am doggedly trying to find the simplest, easiest, most meaningful way to do the thing. If you are looking for Pinterest perfect, you’re not going to find that here, so move along, these aren’t the ‘droids you’re looking for. I am pretty raw and authentic–not because I’m that self-aware, but because I’m just too tired to do anything else.
- Passions: The world is an endlessly fascinating place and I nerd so hard about a lot of things. Our family travels, reads, and we love to watch movies. Give me an epic story! I am also aware that each of us has an impact on the stories around us, and my goal is for all of us to have hope that we can be a tiny force for good . Except to that jerk who stole my parking space. It’s people like him who are the reason I can’t have the Jesus fish on my car.
- People: Which brings me to the crux of what this blog is about: being a better human, mom, wife, sister, daughter and person of faith. I don’t know that I have figured out what Living My Best Life would look like (italics for irony), but whether I want to or not, I know I have an impact on the people around me.
And so do you. We’re all part of each other’s stories (which can be annoying, I get it). I think we’re all doing our best, though some days our best may not be very good. But, I know (and hope!) we can learn and get a little bit better. As Chidi Anagonye asks, ‘What do we owe each other?’ 🙂 (<–The Good Place reference.)
