Miami Moms Blog Welcomes: MIA Mom Keren Campbell

Hello Miami Moms!  My name is Keren and I am so happy to be back in Miami and to be writing to you! I have lived in a few cities across the country.  But Miami is my hometown and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else!

MIAMI

I was born in Canada and grew up on the islands of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica.  Then five months after my twelfth birthday my family came to Miami to live.  Five years later I left for college.

With a teaching degree in hand, I returned to Miami and taught kindergarten at an elementary school in Pinecrest.  There I met one of my literary icons from a magazine I had read in my college library.  You never know who you’ll meet in Miami!

I got married to my college sweetheart in Miami.  Once again I moved away, this time for five years. 

I came back to Miami just in time for Hurricane Andrew!  I was teaching again,  at a Christian school.  The outpouring of love from Miami neighbors was amazing.  Moving from a house on Eleventh Street in Little Havana to another house in Coral Gables, and finally to a mobile home in the backyard of my parents’ home in Perrine, while it was repaired, the kindness we received was overwhelming.

My three children were all born in Miami.  They were all very familiar with Miami parks, the Miami Zoo, the libraries, the Lowe Art Museum, and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden before we left yet again.  This time we were gone for eleven years.

We have been back in Miami now for four years.  My youngest daughter is graduating this year from the same high school I graduated from thirty-seven years ago in Miami!  My husband pastors the Miami church I attended as a teen, and where we got married thirty-one years ago!  Miami is my history.  Every time I come back there are changes.  But I learn them, and I relearn the back roads to everywhere!

I love Miami!

MOMS

When I became a mom I knew nothing.  I had read almost every baby book published at the time and still felt lost.

Thankfully, a college friend lived nearby, who was due a month before me.  She was willing to share her mommy wisdom, as this was her second child.  After our babies were born I was happy to go to her house.  We would fold baby clothes and talk about mom things. 

I think moms’ groups are important.  The bonding and support that occurs can really help when moms feel overwhelmed and even lonely.  Early on, I started meeting with a couple of moms’ groups regularly, with my two older children.  The moms were mainly from a homeschooling group, and the children were of mixed ages.  One group was a Bible study group.  The moms watched as each others’ children grew from nursing infants to toddlers, to having siblings! 

Many of the decisions that I made when I was raising my children were made with the help of experienced moms.  Other moms helped make me a better mom.  Moms need moms.  Not just their own moms, but a community of moms. 

And we never stop being moms.  I will always be Mom to my children, no matter how old they get.  And they will always be my babies.

BLOG

I think, therefore I write.  This blog is a way for me to share my thoughts with other moms.  We no longer go on play dates with our children, but continue to parent them.  Blogs help us to connect. 

 My children are older, 24, 22, and 16 going on 17 (cue the song).  Topics I cover may skew to the mature subjects of college and dating (ahem).   But I still remember the diaper days, the days of training wheels on bikes, and three-year-old ballerinas. 

Hopefully, my blog posts here at Miami Moms Blog will encourage you, inspire you, challenge you, and make you happy that you are a Miami mom.