This is me. A German Chic from a small town in the Swabian Albs. I moved to the US almost 23 years ago (wow saying that makes me feel old, well makes me understand while I think my body is falling apart…)
Anyhoodles, here I am, twenty some years later, twice divorced with two incredible, amazing(yes sometimes stubborn, hence German)sons, living in a small town in Southern Wisconsin (do you see a parallel here?).
My journey, for you to find me writing this blog, led me along running a sustainable farm for 12 years, selling pastured pork at the local farmers market, short cooking in I don’t know how many bars and restaurants, working at a gas station (yes really), teaching cooking classes at the local MATC, working as a corporate food stylist for one of the countries oldest food gift catalogs, running a small catering business, a small sandwich shop, working at a boar stud (yes REALLY) all while raising two kids and building a career as a freelancer.
Along the way I met incredible people who gave encouragement and advice and sometimes the stern scolding we need from good friends ,to jump the next hurdle. Trying to create your own business as a single parent with no relatives around is hard and I thought more than once to quit and just to get another stupid dead end job that would at least pay the bills but not leave room for anything else. My kids showed me encouragement and grace. Coming home late, tired, leaving early while still tired…I’m not gonna lie. It was hard. Often I hear people tell me what a badass I am, what a great job I did raising my kids, despite the challenges. My dads called me a work horse (so have one or the other employer…) and yet I often felt insignificant and small, a failure. Growing older and learning to care less about other peoples opinion, I also learned to listen more to other women who had encouraged me, inspired me, helped me or even made me angry. I realized that we have more in common than what sets us apart. We all have burdens, big and little ones. Health, family, finance, careers, anxiety, we all deal with something and that makes us all REBELS. My superweapon is cooking. Your superweapon might be creating art, painting, helping people, gardening. What makes us REBELS is the fact that we never quit. We might have to rest on the ground a bit to catch our breath before getting back up, wiping dirt and tears of our faces, stretch that chin up to display our resting bitch face, straighten our shoulders, boobs out face up, to march into the next chapter of life.
I embrace all these women, these curvaceous Rebels and will celebrate them on the Rebel of the Week post. If you know someone who seems like a Curvaceous Rebel to you, who encouraged you, mentored you, showed you kindness and spirit, feel free to submit a picture and a short paragraph about them so they can be featured and celebrated.
