Mom of None Relaunch and Happy Birthday Betty White!
In the immortal words of James Brown - I’m back!
First off, Happy New Year! I wish all of you the childfree year you deserve!
Secondly, I am happy 2021 is over, it was a hard year for me. Which leads me to your next question….
Where have I been? Well, let me tell you!
I am a procrastinator by nature and I put things off and off and off and off….. that’s what happened to the podcast. I had so many great ideas but never wrote a script because, new shiny thing. I would see news story or read an article and think this is a great episode, I’ll write it out tomorrow. Then tomorrow turns to next week which turns to next month… and here we are 7 months later! I’m so disappointed in myself for not recording an episode for months. But like I said 2021 was not a good year for me. I need stability in my 9-5 regular job to give me stability in my side hustle jobs - this podcast and my crochet business. More on my crochet business later if you’re interested. Back to my 9-5… I was working at a large financial institution as an executive assistant. I had been at this company for about 18 months with more than half of that with COVID 19 being the top story of our lives. Adjusting to the new normal, at the time, of working from home, not ideal for an assistant to someone who favors face time and me getting his lunch. It didn’t help that he moved to his summer home in Hawaii at the start of the pandemic (must be nice) - that’s a 6 hour time difference from where we are based in New York. I was already struggling to build a rapport with him and he was cranky all the time, mainly because his day started at 1:30 am Hawaiian time. Well fast forward to February 2021, a company wide email comes through announcing my boss is quitting! Yes, that’s how I found out, via email. I knew something was up, because there were a lot of high level meetings popping up on the calendar that morning. Well, he called me a few minutes later to give me the “heads up”. He offered no information on what would happen to me since he was the only person I supported. The company offered me no information either… I was told to sign in every day as normal and someone would be in contact with me. Two months go by with no communication and no tasks. At this point I’m like Hello! What’s going on? I know some of you would be like hey that’s free money to do nothing, but that’s just not me. I want to earn my paycheck and sitting around waiting for a call the may or may not come is extremely stressful. Here’s what happened next…. They laid me off. Before you say, hey Tamiko, you should have seen that coming…. I did…. But I hoped I would be transferred to another group or department within this very large financial firm.
Of course, I was looking for another gig during my two months of non working. I have a long career in financial services and wanted out. The downside is very few industries want to hire someone with an extensive background in the assholes welcome industry of finance. Fast forward to Summer 2021 and I get a job with a tech company in their financial services group - see what happened there. I was like, get settled in your new job and get back to podcasting. Well the new job was kicking my butt. We’ve all heard the term drinking from a fire house….well I was being sprayed with the fire hose against the wall. I was starting to think I would never get it together. Then in the fall, I started to get in a groove, this is great, it’s been a few months but you can start recording episodes. Well, then my new boss was fired - like what is happening to my life!! Did I just lose my job again!!! I just got here. After a couple of very stressful days, I didn’t lose my job but was moved to another group. Now I’m starting with a new boss, back to drinking from that firehouse. Here we are in January and I’m getting in the groove at my 9-5, and back in the groove with recording episodes. And boy have I missed it! I want to thank everyone who sent me an email or contacted me on social media to see if I am ok! I was not ok the majority of 2021 but I’m better now. Thanks for sticking with me! I’m hopeful for an explosive 2022 for Mom of None!
That means fireworks not a dumpster fire!
If you want more information on my crochet business, you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook at hookedbytsl. I will be releasing more content and launching that website later this year.
Happy Birthday Betty White!
Betty White, one of the highest profile celebrities in the childfree world passed away on New Years Eve 2021 weeks before her 100th birthday on January 17th.
Betty had an amazing 80 year career in Hollywood and was unapologetic about not having children. And no she didn’t put her career before having kids. In her words - “I didn’t think as compulsive as I am, I could manage both.” She was a fierce animal advocate and since her death the Betty White Challenge has become popular on social media encouraging donations to animal shelters and advocacy groups.
Of course if you’re not a mother, people will find a way to make you one. Many articles about her death refer to her as America’s Grandma (or Great-Grandma) when she was actually no one’s grandma! While that may be a sweet title because who doesn’t love a grandma, there are so many other ways to honor her that don’t imply motherhood. Personally, I love America’s Rose.
By the way, who is America’s Grandpa? Jackie Mason, Gavin MacLeod (the captain on the love boat), George Segal (the grandpa on the Goldbergs), Christopher Plummer and Larry King all died last year and not one of their tributes refer to them as America’s grandpa. Just to make it international, when Prince Philip in the UK died, was he called Britain’s Grandpa…. Nope! And these men had kids…. Hey society, stop equating women with motherhood, we can do other things.
Betty White debunked all the myths about childfree women. She was of childbearing age during the birthing of the Baby Boomer Generation (those born between 1946 and 1964). I can only imagine the snide comments she received about not wanting to have children during this time.
You’ll regret it…. She never regretted her decision and lived her life childfree life unapologetically.
Who’s going to take care of you when you’re old? Betty was well taken care of up until the end and died peacefully according to reports.
You can’t have a fulfilling life without kids… Well looking back on Betty’s life, it looks pretty fulfilled to me. Having an 80 year career in Hollywood is no small feat. Playing iconic characters that will have have a place in the lexicon for years to come is no small feat. I myself been called Rose Nyland on more than one occasion.
So on this day, January 17th which would have been her 100th birthday, I salute you Betty White!