LeoLin Bowen

You are about to embark on a journey that you will be talking about and remembering for the rest of your life, so spend these next year’s enjoying it.

I am not the only one who is running on this hamster wheel of debt. In 2017 Americans had a revolving debt of $1,022 billion. So, dear debt, it's over!

My son had just lost another tooth. When he looked up at me with his big, brown eyes and asked, “Mommy is the tooth fairy real?”

I call it the look. The slight tilt of the head confused look that people give me when they find out that I am the “weekend” parent.

I was a good girl from the start. Now I am speaking up, setting boundaries, saying no to the things I don’t want and yes to the things that I do.

“I just love your squishy belly!” Then, as only children can do, he gave it a nickname: belly jelly. So I'm learning to love my belly jelly.

Inevitably, it happens. A well-meaning (or maybe not so well-meaning) white person will utter the phrase, “Well, I just don’t see color.”

I didn’t see similarities between my mother and I until years later, after I became a mother. The constant conflict hid how my mother and I are alike.

What is different now is that I know who I am and what I want. I’m not afraid to be alone and living single. I value my time and my health.

I am usually introduced to people as “the vegan.” I get it. Vegan is the new “it” word and now you are actually meeting one.