Pedro Germs, No Returns.

When I was in second grade, my family moved to Oregon. I went to Mary Woodward Elementary School. It took a while to make even just a couple good friends. A few years later there was a new boy named Pedro. I don't remember how it started, but I remember the kids were mean. Really mean.

If Pedro bumped into someone, that person would then touch someone else and say, "Pedro germs, no returns!" It turned into a game of tag almost, and you did not want to be the one stuck with "Pedro germs."

A few weeks later, some friends and I started the "We Care Club" or WCC for short. I remember scribbling out ideas for club names and for some reason this was the one I decided was best. We really didn't do anything with the club, but the one rule we had was that we weren't allowed to pass on the "Pedro germs".

I kept a list of the popular girls' names and swore to myself that those would be my kids' names. For some reason I thought if I named my kids after a popular person, they'd be popular, too. That was my ten year old logic.

Now I have a kid of my own and another on the way I can't help but think of the saying, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice".

I am overwhelmed by the responsibility and role mothers have, in a great way. And I'm so grateful for both of my mothers as well as the opportunity I have to be a mother.