All I Wanted To Be Was A ‘Good Mum’

Dear Scott,

My husband bailed on me when my son was just 18 months old, leaving me with the most beautiful boy in the wide world but nothing much else. He grew into a teenager but by then things were not going well. One night, I was on the floor gasping from the weight of uncertainty and crushing fear, thinking I might not be able to provide for him, or even to keep our home. All I ever really wanted to be was ‘a good mum’ but I was flattened.

Thankfully, some dear friends gave me your book, and I read the whole thing in a day. I bawled for a good hour at ‘You got this’, then went back to page one and worked through it step by step. Since that time, I have set up my buckets, taken control of the mortgage, paid off my car loan (five years early) and negotiated two payrises. Although our Splurge and Smile buckets are small, we save up for special times together and life is good. So, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. Your books and advice have changed my life and my son’s life.

Rosie

Hi Rosie,

You did it! You are a good mum!

You may not realise it but, to quote Paul Simon, you’ve got diamonds on the souls of your shoes.

Your struggle is a family legend that has the potential to influence your son’s life for the better.

So, over a Sunday dinner, talk about gasping on the floor, feeling totally defeated … and, importantly, how you rose up. Refer to the struggle and the triumph over and over again.

The subtext to the story is: “We get knocked down, but we get back up again, and we win.”

That’s the stuff your son is made of … and it’s part of his story too.

Scott.