Why I’m on Couchsurfing

A previous housemate hosted couch surfers occasionally and my son and I both enjoyed meeting new folks. The large home we are in now is in transition to finding full-time housemates and there is a lot of extra space not being used.
We have already hosted three guests here through the homeowner’s couch surfer profile and it has been a lovely success!

Also, while my own travels (before motherhood) generally involved hotel, BnB, or hostel stays, I would love to consider couch surfer community options for future travels!

Interests

• culture
• writing
• theater
• performing arts
• architecture
• music festivals
• cooking
• reading
• music
• live music
• opera
• hiking
• camping
• cultural studies
• teaching
• mathematics
• historic sites
• urban exploration
• food
• travelling
• nature
• ballet
• learning languages
• dance
• reading books
• learning new things
• different cultures
• museums
• meeting new people
• urban planning
• meeting interesting people
• campfires
• campfire
• maths
• pole dance
• art museums
• ships
• historical places
• math
• nature walks
• trying new things
• creative writing
• trying new foods
• civil engineering
• nature conservation
• musical theatre
• mechanical engineering
• visiting new places
• learning new cultures
• hiking,
• i love travelling
• writing poetry
• waterfront
• tall ships
• natural history museums
• science museums
• visiting museums

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Through my various travels and adventures, it may be that the most amazing thing I’ve done is to build a life for myself and my son in this part of the US. With most of my family being nearer to the Gulf Coast (Texas) and my sister on the West Coast (LA area), it’s been my own, independent adventure to carve out a space for myself here on the East Coast from the age of 19.
I have moved away twice over the years for new experiences and have returned ‘home’ both times.

Ten years ago, I brought my 2-yr-old son ‘home’ to the Boston area from Texas (where he was born and we lived those first two years of his little life, visiting with family and driving. SO MUCH driving!) And, man, did the timbre of my whole world change with that move...

At that point, I had the better part of ten years living in the area and many years of teaching and caring for young children. However, being a single mum in an area with no family can really lead an individual one to suss out a whole new set of lifestyle choices: from neighborhood vibes to entertainment choices to dining out.

I have many ‘previous lifetimes’ both here in the Boston area and in Texas and Arizona: working in theatre and costuming, studying operatic performance, working in a music club and restaurant, working in the corporate sector, working in preschools, and working as a nanny. I have lived with family, and roommates, and roommates who became family. I have changed my wardrobe many times over. I have travelled alone across the United States and outside of its borders. And I have both augmented and honed my own views of cultural and societal ideals.
Each of those lifetimes has had its own set of exciting adventures and new experiences.

And, ultimately, each of those lifetimes were simply ‘holding patterns’ for the next. This time around, every change, every tweak, every re-evaluation is building a ‘something’: a base from which my son will build his own perceptions of the world and of himself. A base from which he will then go out and carve his own personal lifetimes from that knowledge and experience. (And from which his momma will also go off to make new lifetimes.)

Many days, I feel a bit outmatched by this task. A bit more than a bit that I cannot possibly have the personal skills and smarts and understanding to build this base all on my own for another human being. And then, each morning we wake up, we take on the challenges of the day, we find our successes, we learn our lessons, we meet new folks and we have new adventures, and we build that strong, solid base together. Cool.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Ireland, Jamaica

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States