DIARY OF A LONELY MOM

One of my favorite events of the school year is field day. I take the day off work and run back and forth between both of my kids’ classes in 90-degree heat to take pictures. This year, my daughter is in middle school and parents aren’t allowed to attend. I thought I’d have the day with my son but then he asked me—wait for it—to stay home. My heart was crushed.

Here’s the thing that I’ve had to accept as a mom: my kids are different. My daughter wants me at every event. My son doesn’t want to mix school and home. In kindergarten, he cried when I went to school events and left without him. He wanted to come home with me. Now, in third grade, he still doesn’t want me to be class mom, got really upset when I was mystery reader, and forbids my husband and I from volunteering on pizza or ice cream days.

The morning of field day, I could tell he was getting anxious. I realized that I can’t be selfish and do what I want because I want that experience as a mom. I have to do what’s best for my kid. So I pinky swore that if I went to field day, I would have to pay him $100. That was enough to really keep me home. My friend sent me photos of him having fun and I knew I made the right choice. I will still pick and choose what events I go to next year, too. But once 5^thgrade graduation rolls around, all bets are off!

SUMMER WATER SAFETY

We live a lake community and last summer in particular we had some tragic events. I’m always top of mind of water safety. One easy thing we can do to keep our kids safe is choose the right bathing suit colors for each type of water.

SUMMER PET SAFETY

Hot asphalt and lake water are just two threats to pets in the summer. Here’s an article I wrote for LittleThings with expert tips to keep your pet safe. And remember to keep them inside during 4^th of July festivities as well!

WORLD CUP PLAYERS TO WATCH

I’m a soccer mom and have actually started to like watching this sport. But I’m also a fangirl and find joy in watching hot players. So let’s get real and talk about what games you won’t want to miss.

Here are four players to watch to make the World Cup even more fun:

USA: Christian Pulisic

Pulisic plays as a winger, attacking midfielder and forward for Serie A club AC Milan and the United States national team. I’m partial to his tiger tattoo (#savethetigers)

Follow @cmpulisic

Korea: Cho Gue-sung

Plays as striker for Danish Superliga club Midtjylland and the South Korea national team.

Follow: @whrbtjd

Argentina: Rodrigo De Paul

Plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team.

Follow: @rodridepaul

England: Jude Bellingham

Plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the England national team.

Follow: @judebellingham

K-DRAMA CORNER

I’m still watching Sold Out on You. My K-dramas have been side-tracked with BTS Festa and all the content I need to catch up on from the Arirang tour. Problems only BTS ARMY will understand!

I started @KissingBooksandKDramas and will slowly be posting all my favorite swoony stories.

KISSING BOOKS

Here are two books on my summer reading list.

K-POP CORNER

3 New Songs to Kick-Start Summer

1. “Come Over” by BTS. Happy Festa, ARMY! For the 13^th anniversary of BTS the group officially released “Come Over.” I’m also loving the Korean version of “Normal.”

2. “Iconic By Mistake” by Hybe girl supergroups Le Sserafim, Illit and Katseye. This song and video will go down in history for sure.

3. “Circles” by James Lee. Here’s an artist to watch if he’s not already on your radar. Lee is former bassist of the Korean-American rock band Royal Pirates. He suffered a near-fatal accident in 2015 when a falling glass door and steel frame severed his hand and crushed his shoulder. James is healed and making music again. His powerful voice can go from metal screams to K-Pop and it’s so fun to watch him do old school covers of millennial-fave Warped Tour bands on his Instagram. I’ll be here listening, watching, and wishing for him to write a memoir!

I create books and coloring books for adults and children to inspire you to live life to its fullest no matter what is thrown your way. Here’s my Amazon page.

Memoir- Trash the Dress: Stories of Celebrating Divorce in your 20s

Trash the Dress fiction series- The Comeback Tour (the romance novel for 90s boy band fans. Anyone want to help me meet reader demand and turn this into a Netflix movie/ series!? #Manifesting.)

Children’s Book – Princess Genevieve: The Hero with Girl Power

Want to be featured in Lonely Moms Club? Email me at joelle (at) joellesperanza (dot) com. Put Lonely Moms Club in the subject to get my instant attention.

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Thanks for reading.

Dream Big,

Joelle

Official site: www.joellesperanza.com

Instagram: @thejoellesperanza

TikTok: @thejoellesperanza

Threads: @thejoellesperanza