It is amazing how one day you are an individual, albeit a large, uncomfortable one, and the next you are a mother. Trevor is the person I met on the day I became a mother.
Baby Trevor! I miss these days! (but not the hair style – yikes)
Today Trevor runs everything behind the scenes at YES Spaces. I know this is a fleeting moment on the timeline of our life; he has come home from college and is working his way into a career and while that is happening I have the wonderful opportunity to spend time with the man I raised. I can see that he is already slipping away into his own life because other people pay him with more than just…well… kisses (which apparently deflate in value in direct proportion to your child’s age!)
Meet the man behind the curtain
It is hard for many people to comprehend but though I run an eCommerce site and spend most of my working hours online I still believe the computer can be stubborn and refuse to cooperate with me. I’m not kidding either, this laptop doesn’t like me. I understand I have the technological aptitude of goldfish! Trevor is endlessly patient.
Trevor is not only my IT guy, but my marketing guru, my travel agent, and my emergency response team. When I was moving Evan to Tucson for college in August driving a 16′ truck down I-5 in the dark Evan and I determined that the hotel where we had pre-planned to stop was 50 miles out of our way. I started to fall apart. In desperation Evan called Trevor and explained the situation. Then he listened, he turned, he patted me gently on the shoulder and said in a soothing tone “everything is going to be all right.” Then he turned away from me and said quietly into the phone “should I do anything else?” Trevor had us re-booked into a new hotel 25 minutes ahead of our current location almost immediately.
But it is really the story of how I became WinterMom that will explain the kind of man Trevor is. I had been going through a hard time. My publisher for YES Spaces had gone bankrupt, I had major back surgery which kept me in the hospital for over a week and in a rigid back brace for over three months and was still limited in my activities. I felt like I had been working for two years to push this giant stone called YES Spaces up a hill only to have it roll back on me and literally break my back. At this time Trevor was finishing college and beginning to help me with my marketing efforts but not in any official capacity.
This blog was nominated for the Circle of Mom’s best Mom Design Blog contest and I sent a link to Trevor just asking if he could also share it with his friends so we could get enough votes to stay in the top 25. I also reached out to all of you here as well as on Facebook and Twitter and boy did you come through!
Trevor took his mission to the next level. Trevor is part of a world I never even knew existed. He enlisted the help of his online community. Trevor’s online name is WinterGreen and he basically just told his friends about my recent struggles and that he really wanted to help his mom feel better by getting some votes for her blog. These lovely friends of his started popping up all over my social media cheering me on, liking me on Facebook, subscribing on YouTube and dubbing me WinterMom. Some of them work in online marketing and technology and shared with us ways to improve what we had been doing and are still sharing their expertise. This onlline community surrounded me with love and hope at a time when I desperately needed it and for that I will always consider them my WinterKinder.
I am grateful to have raised a son like Trevor.
I am grateful I have an emergency response team that includes all my children, no one should travel alone.
I am grateful to have this precious time with Trevor before he moves on with his journey.
I am grateful to all of you for supporting YES Spaces (and if you should be so inclined we are on another top blog list and…you could vote here!)
I am grateful to have found a WinterLand and a WinterFamily.
xo WinterMom