I did not just play as a kid. Playing was something less industrious children did. I incorporated businesses, produced elaborate musicals in my backyard and devised ways to make money. Together with my BFF, Suzanne, we were the Paul Allen and Bill Gates of Vancouver Way…without the tech-brilliance and the binary code. We may not have created a multi-million dollar computer company in my garage, but we did run a pre-school out of it when we were barely old enough to babysit. One summer we borrowed a pre-school craft book from my kindergarten teacher and assumed that meant we were experts in early childhood development. So naturally we invited 15 young kids to my house in order to operate a summer pre-school.
We informed my mother of our crazy plan. She could’ve laughed and ignored our idea as the pretend fantasies of delusional children. Could’ve (maybe should’ve) informed us that it would never work, would be too difficult, would take too much time or make too much of a mess. Could’ve told us that a 10-year-old and her 12-year-old best friend were not fit to supervise 15 preschoolers with craft scissors. But she didn’t. Instead she bought us construction paper, found us some scruffy carpet squares and loaned us her best children’s books. She told us we could do it and then opened the garage door and quietly watched from a distance to make sure we managed to keep the toddlers alive.
And that’s when I learned-
Mom’s life lesson #7: You Can Do Big Things.
You can do things that are hard. Never be paralyzed by a fear of failure. Try it. You will surprise yourself. You will find that you are smarter, more creative and more capable than you ever thought you were. She didn’t have to say it. She let me discover this for myself by packing the glue and the glitter into a Rubbermaid container and handing it to me. It was a little craft kit of self-confidence. A way to say, “Go for it. Open your preschool. Why not?”
And so we did it. We dove head first into a sea of finger-painting four-year-olds. And given the $1 per child we charged, moms flocked to our little enterprise like exhausted moths in need of respite to a flame. {What I wouldn’t give these days for some naïve neighborhood kids to offer to entertain my brood for such a fee!} We were a bona fide entrepreneurial success.
It was only the beginning, for Suzanne and I would engage in many a’ enterprise that started with an overly-ambitious idea and became reality because of my mother who encouraged it. No plan was too big. No idea too lofty.
So here we go again….trying to do big things. And it’s even more exciting than free childcare.
The Elizabeth Ann Foundation is Launching! My sister Erin, my Uncle Paul (mom’s little brother) and I have pooled our creative efforts to create something we hope will be REALLY BIG~all in memory of Mom!
We’ve partnered with The Tower Foundation of San Jose State University, which is mom’s alma mater. We hope to raise funds to support their Communication Disorder Clinic-which is exactly where Mom honed her craft as a speech pathologist (and is not funded by State funds at all, but rather relies on the generosity of folks like us). Our inaugural event, A Sweets Soiree Open House, is Saturday March 3, 2012, and it’s all For the Love of Liz. Come eat Mom’s favorite desserts with us and learn all about this foundation in her honor.
SEND US AN EMAIL AT lizsgirls@gmail.com and we’ll send you an official invitation (which includes all the details of how you can help, even if you can’t come and eat sugar with us)!! We want you to be there so we can make it big. REALLY BIG. Because we can do big things.
And because we know Mom would hand us her recipes, help us pen our to-do list and say, “Go ahead. Make this a success. Why not?”
