Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Little Ol' Me.

I'm kind of a big deal.

Not really. It's just fun to say that.
I needed to write about my experiences today, so that when I get old and have dementia, my children can read me my stories and remind me of the wonderful memories I've created in this lifetime.
Anyone who knows me, or knows me well, or just has me as a "facebook friend" sees that I've been pretty active in advocating for children, and educating parents on how to be a more active voice in their children's lives. I love doing this, and it's become a part of who I am, and who I want to be in the future. Over the last few weeks I've had an interesting couple of events, that have made me realize, that little ol' me, has made some differences. And some strides to make a change. And who knows if it's for the better, who knows if what I've done or am doing will make anything better. But it's working. For me. And that's all that matters.

It's Legislative Session time, and being up on Capital Hill over the last few weeks for different things, I've come to notice just how much I've put myself out there. For example:
When testifying on behalf of the WaKids bill, I met with a group of like minded people before hand. It was people I had met before, and people I hadn't. I was being introduced by someone I knew, and the person I was being introduced to said "hey! I've seen you on YouTube, you were great!!". It was definitely an awkward moment for me. I'd never really thought about strangers viewing my video. I mean, obviously, I knew people would see it. That's what the intent was. But I never in a million years thought that someone would recognize me in public that way.

Last week, at a conference I was attending, I was sitting down eating my lunch, and some one came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and asked me for my email address linked to my YouTube account. It took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about. And then, it hit me, I was wearing the same shirt I was wearing in one of my videos from Washington DC. I made a reference to that, and she said she had recognized my shirt, and wanted more information from me. She wanted to show my videos to her friends, but didn't know how to find it. Another incident, weird, but cool.

Today, on the capital steps, I was approached by someone who had seen my news interview with King 5. She had spotted me and wanted to interview me to "follow" my story of how the child care subsidy changes were affecting my family. Again, she introduced herself to me by starting off with " I saw you on tv."

It's strange. My kids think it's cool that their mom is a "celebrity". It's not how I look at it all. I'm out there doing something that I'm passionate about. Something that makes me feel good, and doing things for betterment of my family, my self, and my future. If in the process, I inspire just ONE other person to get involved, then letting my videos and messages be sent in spam context to those involved in the same issues, so be it. If I become a celebrity in the process, well, that's just an added bonus.

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