Such a naughty bloggess.

That short story never did happen. I think I forgot about my blog for a while. Last post, I think I made it clear I was a surrogate mother for the second time. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, making a family grow. I can't describe the feeling, except that it is all of the good in life you can imagine.


It's hard as a mom with special needs children to feel like a good mom. I never feel like I can do enough, and it's hard to keep going and not just give up. I give up on housework. I tune the world out when I get lost in a book. The only time I feel I've done all I was supposed to is in the act of carrying and delivering a baby. I know I can do so, and by some accounts, including my own, it's fairly easy. (2 hours of contractions I felt, and one push until his head was out) Then to give someone something they've wanted so much and for so long. . . It feels amazing.

I decided to go back to school in the summer of last year. As in summer of 2009. I applied, and was accepted for fall of 2010. I was also very pregnant then. The baby was born at 37 weeks on October 8. School started in September, and the quarter just ended last week with finals. I went to my class on Thursday and felt random contractions throughout it. He was born on Friday. I would've gone to class the following Monday, except that childbirth tends to make a woman leaky in all sorts of uncomfortable ways. I went to class a week later, instead. I walked away with a B in American Literature, and a C+ in British Literature.

Toward the end of the quarter, I found out that my instructor was up for tenure. Students were asked to submit their opinions, and I was happy to write a letter for her. She was cool with me skipping out on her class to give birth, and was fine with late assignments. It was my way of thanking her. I balanced it with a dig at her horrid penmanship, it wasn't all sunshine. I turned it in the same day that was the last day for scholarship applications. I found out yesterday that I got it. I started sobbing, just floored because my GPA wasn't good enough, but my letter made it good enough to be looked over. So I'll share tidbits. I promised not to blog about my family, giving the world their privacy and so I'll keep part of that promise and omit the parts about my husband.

November 30, 2010

To whom it may concern;
My name is Yessica Maher and I’ve been a college student off and on since the fall of 1996. In the past decade I have had an average of one child every two years. Three of those are mine. The last two have been children I’ve borne as a surrogate mother. My older two sons are autistic, and my little one has developmental delays. Most of my energy and efforts are poured into my roles as mother and wife. School is something done selfishly for myself. It has nothing to do with my roles in life, but everything to do with being an individual.

My accomplishments include an Associate’s degree in General Education Transfer Studies, as well as a certificate in Communications from Glendale Community College. I spent a semester writing for their school paper, El Vaquero.

School is a refuge for me. When I am in a classroom, I am not a mother and wife. I’m just another student with no more or less responsibility than the student next to me. Graduation, once I get there will be a tangible way for me to monetize my love of literature through teaching.

To acknowledge my low GPA, clearly it took too long to figure out that while I am fascinated by science, I do not have the ability to easily wade through the math it requires.
Best regards,

Yessica Maher

So while this is no compelling short story, it's the chronicles of my life for the last few months. Maybe the short story will come soon. Maybe not. At this point, I think the surprise post would be more fun than something I try to get you, Dear Reader to anticipate.