About Tommi

I’ve had 5 kids in 7 years.  And then I usually add the punch line- “I’ve heard you get a trophy for this?!”  The journey here has been twisty and turny and ironically, mostly started with a trophy.  Well, a tiara actually.  Once upon a time I was Massachusetts’ Junior Miss  (though I’m quick to emphasize that it was a ‘scholastic competition’ and not a pageant) and that tiara also came with a free-ride to college.  In Alabama.  I majored in Broadcast Journalism because I like to talk, though I couldn’t understand the Southern drawl of most of my professors and even had one who consistently pronounced my home state Mass-a-two-shits.

During those years I picked up a love for God, a high tolerance for humidity, a healthy fear of roaches, and the greatest friends. My first real job out of college was that of missionary to college students in Florida ( tough gig having to live on the beach!)  It’s here that I met my husband – a Marine in Aircrew Candidate School.  We met at church on my 26^th birthday…after I had spent the entire previous night wallowing in my singleness and wondering if God had forgotten about me.

My next real job (besides budding homemaker) was that of fitness trainer for the Marine Corps.  I had a rather low tolerance for pain and minimal training, yet somehow I found myself training hundreds of Marines in muddy fields.  And in pools.  And boxing gyms. Thus began my interest in health and wellness.  I am passionate about healthy food, yet there’s usually a Ben & Jerry’s looming in my freezer.  Oh, and once there was a placenta in there, too.  That’s because I’ve had a few homebirths (gasp).

Even before my wedding vows, I made another vow: I wanna be numb from the forehead down when I have kids.   Yet somehow I’ve now had 5 all-natural, gloriously painful childbirths; the first while holding a phone connecting me to my husband deployed in Iraq, the next 2 accomplished at home in a blow up tub, and the last 2 at a birth center (i.e. a home…just not MY home.)  Complete with loved ones sitting around waiting to welcome baby, and a freezer bag waiting to welcome placenta…in case I wanted to eat it, of course.  I politely declined my hippie midwife’s offer of placenta stir-fry recipes. But I’m still a hippie at heart.  One who is slightly ashamed of her love for automatic doors on her minivan and of her protest when the hubs suggested we get rid of the boob tube.  I would love to live on a farm- heck, off the grid- but struggle to keep even herbs (a.k.a. glorified weeds) alive.

I own a Macbook pro because of all its great features, yet all I ever do is check email and facebook.  I’ve never followed a blog and honestly don’t understand how or why others do.  In fact, when my husband called recently from the office and excitedly said, “check out the blogs at yahoo.  You could do that!” I spent the next 30 minutes just trying to find them before giving up and returning to feeding my kids dinner (pizza delivery…gasp again).  But at least we juice and drink apple cider vinegar in our fluoride-free water and take probiotics, right? So like I was saying, I’ve never blogged.  But I’ve had 5 kids in 7 years, and that provides a heck of a lot of material.

For years friends have asked me to consider sharing my adventures and discoveries, but it terrified me.  It still does.  But I’m ready.  And I hope you are too.  So here’s to growing up and getting real!

~Tommi