September Founder's Letter

September 2023

Dear Friends,

It’s been a little while since I’ve written to you. Life with two two-year-olds is a little busy! I also have a sick doggie; my first child Princess Love Ninja was diagnosed with chronic hepatitis last year. It’s a degenerative disease that isn’t curable according to multiple vets we’ve consulted with so she requires a lot of care.

Just being with Ninja sometimes makes me cry. I try to stay present and just enjoy the time I have with her without focusing too much on what’s wrong and how sad it is. She’s only five and for me truly was my first child. I’ve had other dogs that I’ve loved dearly, but this one, this one came at a time that I really, really wanted a kid and she held me as much as I held her through that tough time. She’s my girl. She’s super jealous of my two little girls, too. She doesn’t really like that she’s not #1 baby anymore. She helped me realize my dream of becoming a mother and now I have to face losing her😢

Speaking of motherhood, I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. For the first year and a half of my kids’ life I feel like I spent almost every waking moment with them. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to! I didn’t want to miss a thing. I had dreamed of them for so long I just couldn’t get over the magical feeling of holding MY kids! Especially TWO. It was/is a handful and yet I can’t imagine not having these two at once. It’s a blessing and a miracle I’ve written about before on our LWL blog.

So now we are 2.5 years in and the magic continues. Of course it is hard and tiring, no doubt. I am so lucky to have support that allows me to enjoy the best of parenting. And now I take more breaks. I go out without my kids. I enjoy dates with my husband and occasionally take some time just for me which is divine. I appreciate the time with just me so much more than ever before. It is like a homecoming, a love affair like no other. To know myself, to remember myself, to reconnect with myself. I know this is important to be the mother, and woman, I want to be in the world.

I have held a judgment before about something I am embarrassed to write about. In the past, I judged women who defined themselves as “just a mom” or who wanted to just be a mom. I think being a mom is the most important and noble job in the world and for me I always wanted to be a mom and also continue to do other things, too. It is a luxury not every mom gets to have that choice, I know. 

There is a lot wrong with the priorities in our country that we spend so many millions and trillions on war and weapons of war, but not on caring for our women and children who are often forced to be separated so mama can work to afford a place to live and so kids can eat. I wrote something about this in my Aspen Times column “We Are The Ocean'' this month.

For me, I want to be a parent, AND I want to contribute to the world in some way beyond being a parent and trying to raise conscious kids who will also hopefully be of service to the good of the world. 

This month, I am preparing to embark on a little experiment as I host my first Lead with Love retreat this week since the Covid pandemic and since welcoming Allegra and Bijoux into the world. Covid shut down our planned healing retreats in Mexico, France and Aspen in 2020. The pause that followed created the space, I think, for me to finally incubate my little twin miracles. And now, after 2.5 years of focusing almost all of my time and energy on these two beings (yes, I know how lucky I am!) I am focusing some of my time on curating and hosting a group of people in Italy. I am so excited!!

It feels great to be a mother. It is enough for me. I am relaxing into my dharma of holding and caring for these two precious souls. And, it feels good to be creating an experience with an intention of healing and raising consciousness with two of my best friends in one of my favorite places on earth! I feel blessed. I am so deeply grateful and excited to be a part of the magical energy that we created so many years ago at Lead with Love and even before that. It is an honor and privilege to hold space for fellow human beings to visit the quiet space inside of themselves and to remember the love and beauty that they are. I am so looking forward to being a part of this and sharing for the first time as a mother AND and a teacher. 

Sending Love and a BIG WARM HUG to all of you for being part of my journey,

Gina