Once there was a curious little groundhog named “Mo” who liked to dig, dig, dig for stories to tell. Unlike his famous relative, Mo was not content to stick his neck out once a year to proclaim whether Winter or Spring would win tug-of-war. No, Mo dreamed of commanding an audience more than just once a year.
Mo is the mascot of MotionMasters, which was birthed on this day in 1987. In addition to running this firm, I’m the mom of three, so I can say this with authority: birthing is the easy part. What follows is the incessant feedings, sleepless nights, and the realization that, as a mom and as a business owner, you can’t just turn in your two-week’s notice and move on.
Sometimes I tell people, “I always thought it would get easier.” But the truth is, it doesn’t. The challenges are shape shifters. It’s been years since a pink bottle of Amoxicillin was shelved in my frig, but at least back then mom knew how to fix what hurt. Now I am mindful of overstepping when, as adults, they bring me their ouchies. I’m long since passed trying to make sense out of the mystery of ratio analysis, or how make sense out of proposals for our health insurance coverage. These days, I wrestle with the impact of AI in the creative realm while embracing it for our use. (We created this illustration of Mo in Dall-E)
I’ve learned a lot in the decades since birthing three kids and a business. One is: You can do more on a few hours of sleep than you think. Another is: celebrate the victories and the milestones. Shout out “way to go” and “woohoo” and “YES!” It’s like kryptonite to the shape shifters.
No one could have predicted we’d be celebrating the start of our 38th year. But here we are. Celebrating another year of storytelling. And loving it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.