Modern Single Momma in NYC!

Wow! What an exciting (and incredibly exhausting) 3 days.

I just got home from a whirlwind trip to NYC and am buzzing with gratitude and joy for all that is happening in my life!

A local morning show in New York called the Mike and Juliet Morning Show called me Thursday morning to help them with a segment on single moms and dating. The segment was going to air on their live show at 9 am eastern pacific and so they needed to fly me out there asap. (Why they couldn’t find another single mom in their city of millions is beyond me, but I was grateful they thought of me and wanted me there none-the-less and I didn’t ask questions…what was I, crazy?!–it was an all expense paid trip and I would get to sleep in a hotel room with fluffy pillows and no crying baby, of course I’ll go!)

After I did a bit of negotiating (yes, I’ll take the red-eye if you guys wouldn’t mind putting in a little plug for our little i heart communtiy? I was stuffing matching bra and underwear sets (you never know), blackboots and skinny jeans into a carry-on suticase and convincing my parents to take care of Lucca for a few days (it didn’t take much convincing, they are so great, and so proud of their little girl going to the big city to be on TV!)

At 4:45 that evening Clare and I did our radio spot on NRK’s “perfect playlist” with Gustav and by 6:00 I was hugging, squeezing, and practically suffocating my little Lucca holding back tears (I haven’t left him overnight for over a year!) as I said goodbye (momma’s going on an airplane!!) and rushed to the airport.

My flight was supposed to take off at 8:15pm and was scheduled to arrive at JFK after a quick stop over in Denver at 6:10am. However, it was delayed , and so my connection in Denver to New York would be missed. The earliest the ticket agent said she could get me in was 2 pm the next day, which was not at all helpful at all– the Mike and Juliet is a live show, which means they needed me there by 9 or forget it.

As the ticket agent was telling me this, my heart sank. What was I to do? Just turn around and go home? Didn’t she get that these opportunities for free trips to New York City didn’t come the way of single moms often (even hip modern single mommas!)? No giving up yet! I had already put myself thru too much saying goodbye to my little man, and now at the airport I was gung-ho for the adventure to begin. I was also understood though, as optimistic as I know myself to be, certain things are just outside of your control– airplanes, departure times and seat space are a few of those–and could do nothing more than just go with the flow. None-the-less, I called the producer to give her the scoop about the flight dillema and even though it was the middle of the night were she was, she went right to work solving the problem. Amazing how some people–especially those in the entertainment world– do not take NO for an answer and some how, some way, make things happen…..In less than 30 minutes I was booked on another airline.

To make a longer story short (Lucca is now up from his nap and eager to play with the momma he went without for three days and you betcha I can’t say “please wait honey, just another few mintutes while mommas updates her blog”) after the long night of flying across country and the mad dash to the car that was waiting for me at the JFK airport, and the sprint I made with the producer from the sidewalk to the studio, I arrived 4 minutes too late for the segment. Everyone was so apologetic and kept saying how sorry they were to have to put me thru all of that to not even make it in time for the show.
I at least got to meet Dr. Leah, who is a new member here on i heart, and a super awesome and wise single mother herself. She was the “expert” for the segment and she signed a copy of her book “The Complete Single Mother” for me!

Truth be told, I was a little grateful things turned out like they did. After four hours killing time in the airport bar at PDX and a red-eye flight, I was in NO shape for television. The idea of having to walk on set looking like I just got hit by a train or worse, and having to talk articulately about single motherhood and the parellels of dating, was more than freightening. I may have been up for a trip to New York, but I was not quite up to an appearance a nationally syndicated talk show. =)

Thank god the universe has a way of looking out for us!

I do hope the opportunity presents itself again to talk about life and love as a single mother. More importantly, I hope I am given the chance to bring some publicity to our amazing little single parent community, because this is where my heart is at and I am so proud of how it is growing and the inspiration and support of everyone here.

…and of course I wouldn’t mind another comped nights stay in Times Square at Hotel Mela: the mini-bar, the bathtub, and all those pillows is all this momma needs to call it a vacation!