Never Give Up Lessons from a Mom with Lisa

In this episode of The Mommy Pod, Lisa shares the inspiring story of her mother, who raised five children as a single parent and still pursued her dream of becoming a teacher.

We talk about:
• Growing up with a strong single mother
• Lessons in perseverance and courage
• Parenting through challenges
• Why moms should never give up on their dreams

This episode is a reminder that strength often grows in the hardest seasons—and that our children are always watching us rise.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Welcome back to the Mommy Pod, a place where we share real stories from real parents. Stories that remind us of strength, our resilience, and our ability to keep going even when life gets hard. Today's episode is about courage. It's about perseverance, and it's about the powerful influence a mother can have on her children, even in the hardest of circumstances. All right. Hi everyone, welcome back to the Mommy Pod. Today I'm joined by Lisa, a mom of two children and two stepchildren, who is happily married and balancing life while working as a receptionist. Lisa brings a deeply meaningful story about her own mother who raised five children as a single parent and still pursued her education to become a teacher. Lisa, welcome to the Mommy Pod. Thank you for having me. Yes. Can you like to uh share a little bit about yourself and let our listeners know who you are, a little bit about your family and your life? Um, so I grew up with four brothers.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I have Garrett, Eric, Matthew, and Michael, and then me. I was the baby. And then in between Garrett and Eric was supposed to be my sister Carole, but she ended up passing away. Um, as you said, I was raised by a single mother. Uh her name's Rebecca, and she worked very hard on raising us by herself, basically. My dad wasn't really in the picture. Um, and yeah, um, I have two kids of my own, plus my two stepchildren now and my husband, and just working hard on being us.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

That's awesome. So you share that your mom uh raised children five children on her own. So, what was that like growing up for you in a household with like a single mom and four other siblings?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

It was kind of hard. Um, we had to kind of team up together. Um, my oldest brother kind of stepped into the role of dad, and he made sure that we got ready in the mornings. Um, my mom she worked three jobs at one point, as well as putting herself into night school because her dream was always to become a teacher. So at night she went to school to do that, and then during the day she worked um at one time. If you remember the paylist shoe stores, she worked there and Rite Aid and then the gas station down the street from our house. Oh she was always working and then at night putting herself in school.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Wow, that's amazing. Good for her. And what are some of the strongest memories of her during those years?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Um, strongest memories of her, I would say, was just her always trying to be there for us. Um and then as I said, just to me, she's kind of more my hero because of how she pushed herself to do what she wanted to become, and she got it. She was a teacher um for granite school district out in Utah for about 26 years, and then yeah. I I hope to be like that one day. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

How did um watching her go to school and become a teacher? How did that impact you and influence you?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Um, it influenced me by of how I work now. Um, always willing to put in extra hours and pick up shifts. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yeah, it having a strong mother definitely is an example, and it makes you want to emulate that. I'm sure. Yes, definitely. Some lessons from your mother. What are some of the biggest lessons that your mother taught you about being strong and persevering?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Um, to always do your best and to always put in uh hundred percent. Um, I try to pass it along to my kids and my stepchildren, you know, like you can't be missing any days, you gotta work hard. If you uh work hard and set your mind to something, then you can achieve it.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

That's really good advice. Was there a moment ever that you realized um, wow, my mom is doing all of this for us, like she's really strong and she's it wasn't until I got older and I realized how much exactly she did.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Um it was kind of a little bit hard for me because I was the only girl and I really wanted my mom to be there. And you know, she tried to be there as much as she could, but with working three jobs and going to night school, time with her was very precious. Um it wasn't until I had my own kids that I realized just how much she sacrificed and how hard she did to provide for us.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Yeah, it's so hard for us to see that as kids, but I guess when we get older and we get into it, we kind of understand what wow, what they truly went through.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Because we're living their experience kind of, but in a different way. Yeah. Yeah. How is um how has her example shaped the way that you parent? I know you said that now you teach your children and your stepchildren to work hard and show up. Is there any other examples that shape the way that you parrot?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Um, patience. That's a good one. Yes. Um patience. I try not to ever yell at them. I try to explain it to them. Um I guess like the teacher, and then I noticed like um my stepdaughter, Falon, she was telling me the other day. Um she said something, and I'm like, I corrected her. I'm like, that's not the correct way to say it. It's this is the correct way to say it. So yeah. I have that teacher coming out of me trying to teach them.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, well, that's good. It's needed. Um let's see, some challenges and motivation. What challenges have you faced as a mom? And how did those lessons from your mother help you through the challenges that you had to go through?

SPEAKER_01 8:01

That is a good question. I would say the challenges that I faced, um I think I just said it, um, I used to lose my patience when I was first when I first became a mom. Um and now I just realize, you know, you gotta take time, you gotta explain it to them and make them think, make them use their head um like options. Why is this bad? Why are you doing this? Um, and here's what you could be doing instead.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

That's good. Yeah, that makes sense because I I find myself getting overwhelmed or frustrated or impatient. But if I just take a deep breath and explain to my children what's going on, it usually ends up a little bit better.

unknown 9:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Get a little bit calmer. Like my son threw a temper tantrum in uh the a restaurant this weekend because he wanted a hot dog, but he wanted ketchup on it. So we gave him the ketchup and he put too much ketchup on it, so it made the bun break. So then he was upset that he had a broken bun. So then I ordered him another bun, and uh there was uh remnants of the other ketchup got onto this bun. I don't know what happened, but then it was another whole complete meltdown. My friends that I were with don't have kids, and they were just a little annoyed and just wondering why I'm not like I don't know, being a bigger disciplinarian, but in that moment I could just see that he was struggling, and so I just took a deep breath and had patience with him. And I went over and I sneeled down and I told him that this hot dog cost$16. It was expensive. We were um on a little vacation, and um yeah, I don't recommend this restaurant, but anyway, the hot dog$16. So to order him a new one, we would have to pay another$16, and that is very expensive, and we do not do that. And if I pay for more hot dogs, that means like less dinosaur toys for him. And so then he kind of got it and he understood, and he took a deep breath and he calmed down, and then he thanked me for helping him with his emotions, yeah, and then I lost it cried in the middle of the restaurant. So, yeah, patience is so important, it's so key as a parent. It's so hard to find though, but when you do, it's worth it.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yes, it is definitely worth it. I I think I parent better now than when I first became a parent.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Yeah. What keeps you going on days when parenting feels overwhelming?

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Um, my husband and a little bit of diamond art. Diamond art? Yes. What is that? Um, it's um kind of like the paint by numbers, but with beads. Okay. Tiny, tiny itty bitty beads.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Wow. Oh, that sounds sweet. You have the do you have a link for that? You'll have to send me the link so you can post it. I don't have a link. That's okay. You do it for um it's more of a hobby.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yes. Yeah. Um, I tend to frame mine after I'm done with them though. But having a hobby kind of helps. Yeah. Um, I know when I was younger, I read a lot, but I don't for some reason I can't find any time to read anymore.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

But every now and then, especially since I'm a receptionist and I'm sitting down at work in between calls, I'll be um working on my diamond art.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Nice. Yeah, I love a good audiobook. I don't know if you can listen to anything while working, or I drive, I commute a lot, so I'd listen to the audiobook when I I did download the pocket FM.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Try to listen to an audiobook on there.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Okay, yeah. Um, what do you can you remember like what? I don't know if this is a good qu I mean, it's a good question, but I don't know if it's a question that you could answer now. But do you ever remember like your mom doing anything if ever she got overwhelmed? I don't know if we would even notice that as kids.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Um, as a kid, no, I don't really yeah, that's okay. I don't think I ever did notice. I notice it now. She likes to work on diamond arts too.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Oh nice. Think you could do together. That's nice. So let's give some encouragement to moms. What does courage look like in everyday motherhood for you?

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Just getting out of bed. Sometimes it is rough. Um I was telling my husband, I can't remember what movie it was off of. Um, I want to say it was off of a movie with Jennifer Lopez in it. And they were asking what's the good parts of being a parent? And he's uh a dad actually answered and he said that it's horrible. And then you have a little moment of peace and it makes it all worth it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Yes, I really that's that's it. That's in a nutshell. What dreams do you hope that um anyone listening here could reach for and keep?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Um, as far as dreams, I'm not sure what dreams to tell them to reach for, just to reach for their their own dreams.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, sorry, that's kind of a weird question that we have in there. And um I want to circle backwards because you said that you have stepchildren and um your own children. Did you and your husband have kids after?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

No. So you had your you had my I had my two kids. They have a boy and a girl, Jackson and Carolee, and then he has a boy and a girl as well, Fallon and Asher.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Okay, so I'm always fascinated by meetup stories. So would you could you share like how y'all met?

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Um, we met on the Facebook dating. Yeah. We actually met um about six years ago now in 2020. And he was just coming out of his relationship, and I was coming out of my relationship, and we both told each other we didn't want anything. Um, so he was the only good person that I met on Facebook dating that I actually stayed in contact with, and we talked every now and then, and then at the time that we actually got back together, or together this time, um, I was just coming out of a relationship, and he's like, Hey, she's single, let's get together. Yeah, and I've been married to him for almost two years now.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Awesome. Well, that's so great. I'm glad to hear excuse me. I'm glad to hear that Facebook dating is working for someone. Yes, yeah, that is great. And then did your kids are your kids around the same age? Did they get along? How is that?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

They get along great. Um his daughter has never had a sister, so she loves my daughter, and then my son is kind of older, he's gonna be actually driving this year. Um, but they're not too much age difference. Uh, my daughter's 13, his daughter is 11, and then my son is 15, and his son is eight. Oh wow, okay, yeah. The boy is not so much in close age-wise, but Asher really looks up to Jackson. Like Jackson has grown his hair out, and now Asher wants to grow his hair out.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Oh, cute. So that is sweet. I'm so glad to hear that. We love to hear about the possible here on the Mommy Pod. Yeah, that's so great. Um, so if we could, I'm gonna let you, I'm gonna close it out, but if you would like to say anything else, or did I miss anything that you want to touch on or to let our guests know?

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I don't think so. I just I would follow that up with um just like how I said earlier, just whatever you set your mind to, you can achieve. And I know some days are hard, but it is all worth it. We all love our children, and our moms are basically the reason why we do what we do.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah, that's so good. I'm gonna say that one more time. I'm sorry, and you don't have to respond because that was a great answer. I'm gonna rephrase my question so I can edit it in. But if you could leave moms with one sentence to carry with them this week, what would it be? All right, and that was a great, I'm gonna cut what you just said into there. Okay, because that was a great sentence. Thank you so much. This is so great, Lisa. You're welcome. Hope it helped. Yeah, I'm sure you're going to inspire a lot of people. And it's so helpful to hear, especially um for single moms like me, that you found love. And so it keeps the hope alive. Right. Yeah. And thank you so much for sharing about your mom and what an inspiration she is. And now she's an inspiration to all of us.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

You're welcome. Yes, she's very she's very much my hero. She sacrificed a lot for us. I love that. That's so good. And then after she became a teacher, so she was a teacher for 26 years. Um, a few years ago, actually, about like 10 years ago, she actually went back to school to get her master's degree. So she be she she could become a um principal because principals make more money. And so she was actually applying for a principal job, and she actually got hired um as something higher. I can't remember the name of it, but she goes around to the schools now and she teaches the teachers.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Amazing, that is so wonderful. Way to go, mom. Yes, yeah, that is so great. Well, thank you so much for sharing, and I hope that you keep in touch and I hope that you visit us again here on the Mommy Pod. I hope so too. What an inspiring mother. To everyone listening, you may not always see the impact you're making. You may not always feel strong, you may not always feel like you're doing enough. But every day you show up every meal, every hug, every conversation, every moment of love that matters. And sometimes the greatest legacy a mother can leave isn't wealth or perfection. It's resilience. So keep going. You got this. This is the mommy pod, and I'll see you next time.