We wanted to share a timely and poignant message, and reminder, from HMN’s founder, Nancy Peplinsky:
The mayhem of 2020 has brought so many of us to breaking points. We swing from mood to mood, from one extreme to the other, fighting to find a middle ground and a small piece of sanity in the chaos. We stand with or against, in a very delineated world in a country where battle lines are drawn every day culturally, politically, economically, and emotionally.
Everyone needs to feel accepted. Sometimes that’s hard when you’re not necessarily a “mainstream” kind of person. Maybe you are totally into homeopathic remedies and avoid traditional medicine. Or maybe you are a vegetarian, or vegan, or you just find yourself “outside the lines“ somewhere in your life. Finding your people becomes paramount to your feelings of being included, and to your well-being.
Jennifer Letzer is 36 years old and has 3 children, ages 8, 6 and 3. Her husband Devin is Irish, and their children’s names are Irish – Ruairi (pronounced Rory), Saoirse (Sor-sha) and Ciaran (Keer-an). When Saoirse started preschool, she was frustrated that people couldn’t pronounce her name, but Jennifer told her to give it time, and eventually it would work out. Jennifer was a newspaper reporter in California before becoming a mom. She is currently a labor and post-partum doula and Lactation Educator working towards certification through the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA). CAPPA is an international certification organization for Doulas, Childbirth Educators, and Lactation Educators. Her plan had been to go back to reporting, but, she said, […]
Kathy Zamora, 41, is mom to a 3-year-old son, and wife to David. She has been a member of the Essex County, New Jersey chapter of HMN for 3 years. Kathy says, “I didn’t have a particular “Ahha! This is the place!” experience with HMN. Instead, it has been a gradual series of small confirming events, conversations – connections – that affirm my belonging. Imagine an ice cube fresh from the deep freeze; hardened, a bit cold. Then it is put into a sun-warmed lake, and it melts and rejoins with the larger body. That has been my experience with HMN. Joining, participating, serving, connecting – for me HMN has been and continues to be the feeling of coming home.
Let me introduce you to Morgan Dart. She is a 29-year-old mother of 2 who she shares with her husband and is a volunteer co-leader of the Fox Valley HMN local community in Wisconsin. “HMN was something I needed in my life, because I was in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t have any local friends. And being on the holistic spectrum limited my friends even further. It was super important for me, if for no other reason, to talk to other people who were “crunchy” in a face-to-face setting.”
Motherhood is the most fulfilling (and frustrating) endeavor ever. Mixed amongst the never-ending jobs of nurturing and protecting our kids are moments of sheer bliss and joy. Every mom needs support and encouragement. The Holistic Moms Network’s purpose is to connect parents and create supportive communities, both in person, through local chapters, and online; to help parents and others to learn about holistic and green living….
