A little while ago, I saw a Facebook meme circulating that had users answering the following question: What would it surprise people to know about you? I loved reading what people posted as their status in answer to the question, because some of it was truly revealing. I’ve never been on an airplane, read one answer. I think I am a really great mom, read another. Some things were a bit salacious: I have inhaled; some were painfully heartfelt: I still miss my childhood dog every day, but all were a little window into people’s souls, a little part of what made them who they are.

And it got me thinking. Not just about what it might surprise people on Facebook to know about me, but what it might surprise my daughters to know about me. My quest to be a good mother in the eyes of my daughters often has me striving to ensure that my daughters know a little bit about me as a person, not just as a mom. I want to be proud of the mother I am, and I want my children to be proud of the person I am.

For now, I know that being MOTHER is about as far as my children’s understanding of me needs to go—it’s what offers them security, stability, peace, love and solidity, and I love that I get to be that for my daughters. But little by little, the person that I am beyond “Mother” will get to shine through. I can introduce this person through music (“This is Mummy’s favourite band”), through my work (“Mummy is a writer”), through little clues here and there (“The kids from Are We There Yet are in Turkey; Mummy’s been to Turkey”), and I look so forward to letting my children discover who Karen is, much like I so look forward to discovering who my children will become.

As a blogger, there’s a lot about me out there already, and when the time is right (i.e. once my children use the Internet without my supervision), they will have access to that information, like it or not. But there is more—there are surprises, and I hope that they will eventually make my children… what? Think I am a tiny bit cool? That I have a tiny bit more understanding of what they are going through? That I’m a tiny bit more of a dork? Yes. All of the above. And more. Because who knows what surprises I am in for as a mother.

Things that my daughters will be surprised to know about me (and that I hope makes them trust my ability to understand them a little bit more):

• I went to seven different schools by time I was finished high school.
• I think that experimentation is fine, but be smart about it.
• I know what it feels like to have no idea I had made such a terrible decision.
• I know what it feels like to know it’s a terrible decision, but then do it anyway.
• I was teased in school. Mercilessly. I know how to survive it.
• I know that you can be surrounded by people and still be lonely.
• You can pretty much get anything you want out of me if you promise to play with my hair.
• I would rather stay up until 1 a.m. and sleep until 10 a.m. as well.
• I had seen more than 150 Grateful Dead shows in more than 20 states by the time I was 19.
• I had travelled halfway across the world and stayed away for almost a year by time I was 23.
• I will let you follow your path, even if it takes you farther from me than I would like you to go. I promise.

 What would it surprise your children to learn about you?

Karen Green recently traded life in the biggest city in Canada for life in the biggest cornfield in Canada. Freed from her full-time job as a writer and editor, Karen now spends her time…writing and editing. And frolicking in the leaves with her two small girls. Karen is a speaker, the founder of Mom The Vote and the author of the blog, The Kids Are Alright, where she has been writing about the humorous and poignant moments of family life since 2005. She is thrilled to be a part of canadianfamily.ca.