May 4, 2023 • 33 mins
Can you really change your future? Dream bigger? Have the faith and the energy to face your fears and step into your future? The Lioness can show you the way. Not only for children or pre-teens, it’s for all of us. Come in, pull up a chair, and grab tea, coffee, or green juice, because we have a lot to talk about with my guests today: Patricia Egan, and Patti Egan. Patricia, is a single mother of three human children, and three fur babies. She's a homeowner, works full-time, and she's the author of The Lioness, You can change your future. Patti, is Patricia's aunt, and the amazing illustrator of The Lioness, You can change your future.Maureen Huntley is your host, board-certified Integrative holistic and functional medicine health coach, Emotional Freedom practitioner, mom, grandmother, wife, and CEO of her family’s home operations. If you miss any of our episodes, you can find us on Apple, Spotify, google, podbean, pandora, iheartradio podcast, CTR - Radio Network, and more. Deep Breath ~ Exhale ~ It starts with you.
Patricia Egan, Author - The Lioness, You can change your future. https://www.amazon.com/author/writtenworlds1
See You. Do You See Me? (anoutsidersway1.blogspot.com)
Patricia Egan | Facebook Patti Price, Illustrator https://www.amazon.com/author/lionesspegan01
Maureen Huntley, MS The Family Balancing Act
https://maureenhuntley.com/ https://www.facebook.com/maureen.huntley?mibextid=LQQJ4d https://www.facebook.com/TheFamilyBalancingAct?mibextid=LQQJ4dhttps://www.instagram.com/mohuntley/www.ctrnetwork.com/thefamilybalancingact
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Patricia Egan, Author - The Lioness, You can change your future. https://www.amazon.com/author/writtenworlds1
See You. Do You See Me? (anoutsidersway1.blogspot.com)
Patricia Egan | Facebook Patti Price, Illustrator https://www.amazon.com/author/lionesspegan01
Maureen Huntley, MS The Family Balancing Act
https://maureenhuntley.com/ https://www.facebook.com/maureen.huntley?mibextid=LQQJ4d https://www.facebook.com/TheFamilyBalancingAct?mibextid=LQQJ4dhttps://www.instagram.com/mohuntley/www.ctrnetwork.com/thefamilybalancingact
VIA Character Strengths *FREE assessment:http://maureenhuntley.pro.viasurvey.orghttp://vitalhealthforlife.pro.viasurvey.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Welcome to where the screen door slamsand the coffee mug hits the table.
You're listening to The Family Balancing Actwith me Loureen Huntley, Mom, grandmother,
and board certified Holistic and Functional Medicinehealth coach. Each episode will explore
the realities of your day to dayfamily life in this modern era of NonStop
(00:26):
texts, means and technology. Afterall, how do we keep ourselves saying?
Hand our family healthy? I'll haveamazing guests and thought provoking discussions,
and we'll take a holistic look atfamily health emotional, physical, mental,
and spiritual. Whether it's a microperspective of family involving healthy snacks, teenagers
(00:50):
with an attitude, stressed out,husband's partners, adult children, potty training,
eldercare, grandchildren, college breath,or a macro perspective of world events
including blue earthquakes, the brainwashing,media, finances, and oh so much
more. You'll find a way together. So take a deep rat exhale and
(01:11):
know that you're not alone. Bringon the Family Balancing Act. Thank you
(01:57):
so much for joining us here atthe Family Balancing Act, where we are
restoring the heart and art of motherhood. One conversation at a time. I'm
Maureen Huntley, your host, boardcertified integrative, Holistic and Functional Medicine,
health coach, emotional freedom technique practitioner, mom, grandmother, wife, and
(02:19):
CEO of my Family's Home Operations.You're probably already doing your own family balancing
act that as the CEOs of yourown family's home operations, we can all
use a few tips and tools tosupport us along the way. So if
you listen to our podcast before,well, welcome back. And if this
(02:39):
is your first time, it's anhonor to have you here, So come
right in, hold up a chair, and gravit a coffee or water green
juice, because we have a lotto talk about today with my guests,
Patricia Egan and Patty Egan is asingle mother of three human children and three
(03:02):
fur babies. She's a homeowner andworks full time. And besides all of
this, she's the author of theLioness You Can Change Your Future. Patty
is Patricia's aunt and the amazing illustratorof the Lioness You Can Change Your Future.
(03:23):
What did you dream of becoming whenyou were little? I was just
thinking about that, and then Ibegan to daydream about what I daydreamed about
becoming. When I grew up,I knew that I wanted to be a
mom like my mom. Oh,and of course Mary Prince Charming and become
(03:44):
a singer and an actress. Aschildren, we played out our daydreams away.
We just followed through with them,and we didn't even think they were
silly fairy tales or a wish,or that they just wouldn't happen. Played
as though they were real, andthey were. As a child, you
(04:04):
could be a princess, a doctor, a hairdresser, a lawyer, a
fireman, a writer, an artist, a rock star, or a teacher.
Children believe and have faith. Doyou remember playing what you wanted to
be when you grew up? Well, as I write this, I have
(04:26):
the memory of being a singer inmy childhood basement and I belt it out
whatever song I heard on the radioholding a hairbrush and a spoon is my
microphone, and as I did so, it felt so real, so good
and powerful. I was a diva. Washington parent dot com article entitled Encouraging
(04:48):
your Children's Dreams for the Future byEmery Loose Baldwin ELCMFT October twenty twenty two
states that every child has dreams aboutwhat they want to do when they grow
up. Sometimes children's dreams seem realistic, such as a strong athletic child talks
(05:10):
about wanting to go into the professionalsports, and often children will have more
fanciful ideas, such as wanting tobecome a famous and successful movie star or
singer. I can totally relate.Dreaming up ideas about what I want to
do someday is how children imagine whatit would be like to be talented,
(05:32):
confident, and successful. We adultsdo it. Sometimes dreaming is an act
of courage, giving children the imageryand leap of faith that they need as
they begin to think about their ownfuture. Talking about a dream of growing
up and doing is how children beginto create a mental scaffold as a bridge
(05:57):
between today and some day can happen, and parents can help support them with
that, asking questions like I wonderhow someone goes about learning how to do
that? Or what do you supposepeople need to do to learn to be
able to become a pilot, ateacher, a doctor, a mom.
(06:18):
In the article entitled the Importance ofplay on scholastic dot com, parents young
children learn by imagining and doing haveyou ever watched your child pick up a
stone and pretend it's a zooming car, or hop a lego piece across the
table as if it were a personor a buddy. The process of pretending
(06:43):
builds skills in so many essential developmentalareas well. They learned language skills.
Well have you ever listened to yourchild engage in imaginary play with his toys
and friends? How about when theydo an absolutely perfect imitation of you,
mom, dad, and the teacher? Scary but true. They also learn
(07:10):
social and emotional skills through cooperative play, and learn how to take turns and
share responsibility and how to creatively problemsolve. When your children pretend to be
different characters, they experience walking insomeone else's shoes, which helps to teach
them the important moral development skill ofempathy. And there's also thinking skills.
(07:35):
Pretend play provides your child with avariety of problems to solve, whether it's
two children wanting to play the samerole or searching for just the right material
to make a roof for the playhouse. Our children call upound upon important cognitive
skills that they will use every andevery aspect of their life now and forever.
(08:03):
So do your children or grandchildren engagein a bit of rough housing.
I know my house was full ofit. Great. Some researchers and believe
in early brain development believe that thissort of play helps develop the part of
the brain, the frontal lobe thatregulates behavior. Not too shabby, nurturing
(08:26):
the imagination for everyone. Play,laugh, be silly, dream big dreams
and act them out. Everyone canplay. Have your children be with you
and you be with them, andthat's always a big eye opener. Just
enjoy these moments. Our children areour greatest teachers. So Patricia Egan and
(08:48):
Patty Egan today are with us.Patricia is a single mother of three human
children and three fur babies. She'sa homeowner and works full time. Besides
all all of this, she's theauthor of an really wonderful book called The
Lioness You Can Change Your Future.Patty is the talented illustrator of the Lioness
(09:11):
You Can Change Your Future. Sheis the mother of two sons. While
attending Syracuse University, she became themother a mother in her third year,
and Patty never stopped calling herself anartist. To quote her, she said,
you never know when your blessings comeyou just have to be ready to
(09:33):
accept them. I am so veryhonored today to welcome both Patty and Patricia.
Patricia and Patty to the Family BalancingAct. Welcome, well, good
to have you, Good for youto have us. I am so honored.
(09:56):
It is just it's great. I'mjust so thrilled to of you one.
I'm trying to like get myself alittle organized. Here there we go,
so welcome, and how on earthdid you get here? How?
Tell us a little bit. I'llstart with you, Patricia, a little
bit about your journey and about yourself. Just gonna fill us in and what's
(10:20):
going on. So as she said, I'm a mother of three human children
from three fur babies. So inmy spare time I like to do photography.
I'm with the children, and ofcourse we like to watch TV together.
(10:43):
I got into writing when I wasyounger. I received a journal from
one of my aunts. She said, it may help me come out of
my shell a little bit if Iwrote down what I date each day.
And from there into high school,my favorite class was English and that's where
I started doing poetry. You ofthem either got them published in the school
(11:05):
magazine, and from there I juststarted um, going through the journey of
like writing down my everyday stories,some dreams. Um and the Lioness actually
came out of a dream which Iturned into a poem, which of course
now it was a children's book.I love it. I love it.
(11:26):
That is fantastic. What a whata journey. And the fact that you
took what you loved and you areyou've created from it. And Patty your
story is similar in that you youwent in you studied illustration. Yeah,
it's funny how both we call ourTricia, both Tricia and I. You
(11:48):
know, we were the first firstones in our within our siblings to have
children very young, and we alsowere both had boys. You know.
I took her to my her firstsonogram and that was a crazy journey which
we will not go into, um, but when I saw the sonogram and
it said Patricia Egan, it wasjust like wow. We really developed into
(12:13):
you know, a lot a lotof similarities that kept going throughout our lives.
We you know, we and herewe are. We both took two
different paths. I mean I studied, she did not study, but we
both got to the same place.And every time she you know, when
I was reading her book, Isaid, you know, I you know,
she developed her dream or the wordsthat she wrote, and I went
(12:39):
into her words and developed the artto go with it. And it just
so mashed meshed together, miss smashedtogether, and you know, so we
just it's just been really really fun. Um. I didn't I wasn't sure
in the beginning, but this wasone of my previous things in my in
my artist person that I wanted todo was illustrate a book. And now
(13:01):
I'm checking that one off my bucketlist too. Maybe that one will have
a nice long list and you'll keepgoing, oh, yeah, we're talking
about that. I'm not letting gonowhere yet. That's fantastic. So um,
Patricia, Patricia's I love that,Tricia. Um, Patricia, can
(13:22):
you expound on what um, alittle bit about the book and a little
about about that dream without giving outthe whole story of the book, but
um, just so that our listenerscan kind of glean what that is and
also the age range that you're lookingfor. Um, So the age range
(13:45):
of the book I chose was kindergartento about fifth grade. UM. And
understanding that all children like to beread too, even if they can't comprehend
what they're being read. Um.So as for some of the reviews,
I actually got back some feedback andthey said it's really good story for middle
schoolers because they can understand and relateit to their own lives, um as
(14:09):
they're growing up and from there.Really, I don't know. It just
I just woke up one day andI just felt really creative and I'm like,
you know what, I think,I'm just going to write this down.
Um. And the story itself isjust about a little girl. UM.
(14:33):
Well, I don't know, withouttrying to like give away goal,
well, it is that of aYeah. So it's at the beginning of
it, it's um an innocent viewthrough a little girl's eyes. As she
goes she slowly understands that there's moreto the world than she perfulously thought um
(14:58):
and going through with the lion asshe kind of picks out some stuff that
she would normally not see herself,and then she starts to understand that some
of the things that she was previouslyscared of of or previously learned to be
true was not actually as it seemed. And that's where she expanded into well,
if this is not what it seemedthen maybe other people are just like
(15:20):
me and they're seeing stuff that it'snot true. Also, so from there,
she's trying to explain as she goesto those dreamers that she found that
there's more to the world than theywere previously taught. I love it isn't
the world like that for real?You know? And so I would love
(15:41):
to hear how again, Patricia,how as a child? What was your
childhood like that got you on thispath? And do you see yourself in
as this little girl? A lotof my work has to do with my
growing up and I had a bigimagination. I still have a big imagination.
(16:06):
Um um so um. Like Isaid previously, I actually received a
journal because I was just stand offishwith a lot of people and I didn't
like speaking to them. I likemy own space, um. And I
just I can express myself better andwritten word than vocally, as you guys
can probably tell right now. Don'tdo that to yourself. Now. Do
(16:30):
you're have a family balancing act?It's great, um, I I believe
it's so important for um children,our children, the children of the world
to have a foundation of courage andlove and respect for themselves. Definitely love
(16:56):
from your book. Okay, itjust it calls it's also a great book
for adults. It really is.It makes you think in a deeper way.
So many times we get so caughtup in life that we're not going
to the place, a deeper placethat we can get through, like through
(17:22):
prayer or meditation, how artwork,you know, writing however, illustrating,
however we get there, but tothis place of knowing we're okay and that
we we can continue to love ourselvesup and when we do so, we
love the world up. That wasIt's beautiful inner my own inner journey and
(17:42):
reading this, I'm going to holdthe book up for our are those that
are watching the the Facebook live orany of this pass on YouTube, but
it's it's fantastic. So Patty,yeah, I know through the words,
you know, you're like, yes, how through the words that Patricia had
(18:03):
put onto paper and she had createdthis this beautiful flow. I love the
It is so poetic and poignant thesame time. UM, and your illustrations.
I'm up a page to an illustrationhere. This is one of my
favorites. UM, and for thoseof you're listening, I'm holding up a
(18:27):
page that has the Lioness on it, and can you describe that you're working
well, both are the lioness andthe girl. Just they're in a um
you know, they're they're down andthey're kind of hidden and not sure when
they're going to come out of itor not. Is what I proceed from
(18:48):
it is that you know, it'syou know, you're when you're in there
on that line, Am I gonnatake the leap or I'm gonna stay where
I am comfortable? Just like Trishawas saying. You know, she was
and she was all many many yearsstandoffish and I kind of wrestled her to
the ground many a time just fora hug. And now I'm doing it
(19:11):
with her daughters, but taken afterme. But they're learning how monstral stuff,
yeah, ancestral. Yeah, Butthey love the idea that their mom
wrote this book and that they're youknow, and it's perfect for them because
there they are, the girls thatare coming of age and they've got to
(19:32):
come out of that in order toget into the world. Just like Triciada,
you know what I mean. Somany people, even family have said,
Tricia did that. Tricia's doing that. I said, yeah, we're
doing it together and we're making ithappen together. So it's it's just been
a lot of fun. And Idon't know, I'm not talking about the
artwork right now. I'm talking abouther. She's just really the apple of
(19:56):
my eye. Hell, and shehas her name, is it right there?
I that's that's fantastic. So forwomen out there who are moms,
you know, a single mother,um, a very young mother, you
(20:18):
know when you had Patty, whenyou had your firstborn, often what happens
is that women, even married womenwho are married and there, whatever life
goes on, we get crowded byfamily stuff. And even if the kids
have left, we're always we neverstop thinking about them, worrying about them,
(20:38):
what's going on with them. Butat the same time, we have
to get out of our shell,get out of our own way. We
don't have to. You can spendthe rest of your life like that,
but you both obviously haven't. Sowhat advice can you give someone who is
looking to begin to write, tobecome a writer? Patricia, I'd say,
(21:03):
just give yourself a little bit oftime each day to decompress and just
buy yourself a journal or a notebookor even type on your phone or your
computer, anything that you can usejust to get the words out of your
head. Doesn't need to make sense, it doesn't need to be well written
for somebody to read. It's justfor you. And once you get that
(21:26):
going and you steadily keep on goingwith that, you can come up with
a lot of things and your imaginationcan get brighter and brighter. And then
you can just keep on telling yourselfthat if you take in the positive and
don't listen to that negative, thatslowly you can get yourself out or into
whatever figament that you want to bein. So say you're down right now,
(21:48):
you just keep on telling yourself andtaking in that positivity and you can
bring yourself up. You just it'sjust how you look at the world beautiful.
And then when you're saying to taketo you know, to get to
that place where you can actually putpen to paper or start typing. How
(22:10):
let's life is crazy? Yeah,you've got three kids and it's like when
you know you woke up, you'relike, oh, I got to get
this out of my head. Butbreakfast needs to be made, kids need
to go to school, I haveto go to work. Our lives get
in the way of our dreams.So what is what is something you do
(22:33):
to get to the place where youactually pick up a pen and paper.
I constantly have a notebook with me, and if I don't, I use
the notes on my phone. Evenif you're working full time, you always
have that like five ten minutes toyourself and you can do it. Then
you can just have like a littletiny notebook and keep it in your purse
(22:56):
with a pen. And if youcome up with like one simple thought,
one word, just write it downnow. When you go back to it
later, it might just trigger somethingin you and you can remember what you
wanted to say when you have alittle bit more time to write it down.
Even if it's just like, wellI got up today and I've made
breakfast for my children. That's somethingyou're writing, right, That's great.
(23:19):
I ran across a journal that Ihad written when I was first becoming I
was pregnant with my first child,and I thought I'd gotten rid of a
lot of those old journals, andI just was blown away by what I
had found. Just how much I'veblossom changed, but yet how wise that
(23:42):
young woman was. Because we arealways who we are, We're just expanding
it, even if you don't remember. Definitely, it's really good to look
back at some of your old workjust to remember and just like, yeah,
I was there and now I'm here, and then I'm proud of myself
(24:03):
and I'll bring some of that forwardand leave some of it. But I
have a lot of stuff I justleft behind. I Yes, I'm here
right now. Good girl. That'sthat's fantastic to hear, Patty. As
far as doing illustration, because I'vehad in your introduction, you never lost
(24:26):
knowing you were always an artist,which I find profound because you know,
so many times we can just goI used to do that. M I
started saying that, and then Italked my stuff. I know I am
an artist, and not even justthat I went to school for it,
but I even went. You know, when I was little, I always
(24:49):
wanted when I saw art, Iwanted to, you know, be that
creative person that did that. Howdid they do that? I want to
do that too. And when Iwent to school, and then after I
became a mother, my father hadsaid, you are never going to go
back to school. You you youknow, he was very negative about that
(25:11):
last little bit of his life.Because when he when I went and graduated,
he died seven days after, sohe knew that it all worked out.
You know, he died with asmile on his face. I think.
But yeah, we it's just animportant part to say it to yourself.
(25:33):
You know that I am the personI'm going to do more and it
takes a lot. And now thatI'm kind of alone here in my I
just you know, I have grandchildren, so when I want them, I
can just love on them and thenthey go back to their parents. That's
(25:55):
that's fantastic, lucky you. That'sgood. I should just send mine over
to you for a little while,a little while again, right, you
don't want you to be alone forlong. So through the journey of life,
Patty you, how did you keepyour artwork going? How did you
(26:15):
keep that going within you? Well, it was very difficult because I had
to wait till, you know,kids are asleep, because I couldn't do
it and give up that time fromme coming home at five o'clock making dinner,
do you know, get everything togetherand then have a little bit of
quality time with them if I'm doingartwork. That's why I perceived it.
(26:37):
So I waited till they went tobed. My ex husband was a very
ill man, taking care of him, making sure everything flows. And then
I catched some time of my own, going I've got to do it or
I'm not because I'm going to giveup on it. I'm not going to
give up on it. So here, I am not giving up. That's
(26:57):
that. Well, you can tellall you haven't given up. It's incredible,
it really is. It's it's just, um, these could actually be
made into mugs, T shirts goingwild. I have a couple of favorites,
so that just might happen. Yeah, you know, I think I'm
(27:19):
going to be on the list forthe T shirts. Just it's very cool.
Now you had mentioned about doing uma series. Can I grab some
info on that? Are you willingto talk a little bit about that or
just that is all Aunt Patty atthe momentum. She just ran it past
(27:41):
me yesterday and I'm like, thatis actually inspiring me just to think about
it and start writing a few poemsto see what we can come up with.
That's great. You know, whenyou put it out there into the
universe on a big plat, ona bigger platform than just the two of
people, it happens. So it'sgoing to happen. Yeah, absolutely,
(28:04):
it will happen. I um,you know this U touching the heart and
the soul of of children. Andand you have a great test test subjects
you both do actually with grandchildren andwith your own children to um to rent
(28:25):
it by them? Were their favoritebooks Patty, Patricia that you like to
read when you were a child.Um, I can't think of any that
I like to read as a child. Actually didn't get into reading until I
was, um, probably almost thirty. Um. Yeah, I just like
(28:51):
to hear a bunch of stories.It's usually just like all the princess stories,
of course, because that's what Igrew up on. M M.
It's great. And Patty, didyou have any childhood books that you remember
that you liked? You know,when I think of my childhood books,
I'm not thinking of mine. Igo right to what did my kids like?
(29:11):
You know? We were a catin the hat every night? I
knew it by heart? But canmove? Can't you? Are you?
You know? Help that you youwere going to remember something of your own
And it transitions into oh that whatwas happening with my children at that age?
(29:34):
And that took go over with amemory. You know, sometimes my
memories are vivid from youth, andthen sometimes when somebody asked me something,
I say, I go right totheir you know, what was going on
with my kids at that age.So I don't really remember, you know
that. I actually remember one bookand it wasn't actually a book. It
(29:57):
was the Children's diction Nary and theanimal books. Do you remember those animal
books? The nature books that hada two sided one animal on one side,
you flip it over, one animalon the other. I used to
do little essays on my own aboutthose animals because I used to want to
(30:17):
be a vat when I was younger, and I just wanted to take all
the information I could learn in.So it did start, and it started
when I was younger. Yeah.See, the more we talk, the
more it's just coming back. Andhere you've got your dogs in the back,
because yeah, I'll be right back. Um, he wants to join
(30:41):
the camera. No, no worries, No worries. I'm going to just
um that. That's great. Ah. So um, Patty, when you
were uh a, you know,a child, obviously you can't remember those
those books. But do you rememberthe game? All the games you used
to play. Um. Yeah,Twister was the biggest one when happened.
(31:07):
You know, we you know,we had four children and Twister was a
big one. Um. And thenyou know, it just went to I'll
if I do girls stuff where Ido boy stuff. You know, I
hung around with Jimmy, um andfor a lot of stuff we did boy
stuff. You know, we wentup to the park. He kicked the
ball, I chased the ball.Um. You know, but you know
it just uh, oh there's mymother's cat. That's really funny, and
(31:33):
it's all about you. Yeah,there she is. Oh look at that.
Isn't that great? I know it'sat fur babies. We forget whoa
how important they are to our ourfamilies. They are family, they are
(31:56):
well. I know it's we're,we're, we're we're gonna close it down
for today. But I am justso honored to have you. I think
just because the we're so like,you're done, You're done, I want
your attention. Now. He wantsto go outside. I don't blame them.
It's actually pretty nice. Again ifyou can tell us where everything about
(32:22):
where to find you and where tofind your books. Um. The book
is on Amazon dot com. Soif you're searching without the link, it's
going to be the Lioness, andthen you're going to put Patricia Egan e
g An and it will pop upunder the Amazon search results, and then
(32:43):
both mine and Aunt Patty's name willbe under that, and then our profiles
perfect. Well, it was absolutelya joy having you on. I'm telling
the reader, the listeners, theLioness you can change your future is really
it's deep, it's good, it'sshort, it's sweet, and yes,
(33:05):
it's it's you could read it toa five year old and to a twelve
year old, and to a fortyyear old and a sixty year old and
beyond, because it hits you atyour soul. I just it's it's beautiful.
And I'm so honored to have hadyou come on today and so grateful.
Thank you so very much. Andif you take a moment, I
(33:30):
just want to say to all ofour listeners, thank you so much for
joining us here at the Family BalancingAct. So if you take a moment
and close your eyes and take adeep breath and release it and that you're
not alone, You're on a familyBalancing Act, than
Welcome to where the screen door slamsand the coffee mug hits the table.
You're listening to The Family Balancing Actwith me Loureen Huntley, Mom, grandmother,
and board certified Holistic and Functional Medicinehealth coach. Each episode will explore
the realities of your day to dayfamily life in this modern era of NonStop
(00:26):
texts, means and technology. Afterall, how do we keep ourselves saying?
Hand our family healthy? I'll haveamazing guests and thought provoking discussions,
and we'll take a holistic look atfamily health emotional, physical, mental,
and spiritual. Whether it's a microperspective of family involving healthy snacks, teenagers
(00:50):
with an attitude, stressed out,husband's partners, adult children, potty training,
eldercare, grandchildren, college breath,or a macro perspective of world events
including blue earthquakes, the brainwashing,media, finances, and oh so much
more. You'll find a way together. So take a deep rat exhale and
(01:11):
know that you're not alone. Bringon the Family Balancing Act. Thank you
(01:57):
so much for joining us here atthe Family Balancing Act, where we are
restoring the heart and art of motherhood. One conversation at a time. I'm
Maureen Huntley, your host, boardcertified integrative, Holistic and Functional Medicine,
health coach, emotional freedom technique practitioner, mom, grandmother, wife, and
(02:19):
CEO of my Family's Home Operations.You're probably already doing your own family balancing
act that as the CEOs of yourown family's home operations, we can all
use a few tips and tools tosupport us along the way. So if
you listen to our podcast before,well, welcome back. And if this
(02:39):
is your first time, it's anhonor to have you here, So come
right in, hold up a chair, and gravit a coffee or water green
juice, because we have a lotto talk about today with my guests,
Patricia Egan and Patty Egan is asingle mother of three human children and three
(03:02):
fur babies. She's a homeowner andworks full time. And besides all of
this, she's the author of theLioness You Can Change Your Future. Patty
is Patricia's aunt and the amazing illustratorof the Lioness You Can Change Your Future.
(03:23):
What did you dream of becoming whenyou were little? I was just
thinking about that, and then Ibegan to daydream about what I daydreamed about
becoming. When I grew up,I knew that I wanted to be a
mom like my mom. Oh,and of course Mary Prince Charming and become
(03:44):
a singer and an actress. Aschildren, we played out our daydreams away.
We just followed through with them,and we didn't even think they were
silly fairy tales or a wish,or that they just wouldn't happen. Played
as though they were real, andthey were. As a child, you
(04:04):
could be a princess, a doctor, a hairdresser, a lawyer, a
fireman, a writer, an artist, a rock star, or a teacher.
Children believe and have faith. Doyou remember playing what you wanted to
be when you grew up? Well, as I write this, I have
(04:26):
the memory of being a singer inmy childhood basement and I belt it out
whatever song I heard on the radioholding a hairbrush and a spoon is my
microphone, and as I did so, it felt so real, so good
and powerful. I was a diva. Washington parent dot com article entitled Encouraging
(04:48):
your Children's Dreams for the Future byEmery Loose Baldwin ELCMFT October twenty twenty two
states that every child has dreams aboutwhat they want to do when they grow
up. Sometimes children's dreams seem realistic, such as a strong athletic child talks
(05:10):
about wanting to go into the professionalsports, and often children will have more
fanciful ideas, such as wanting tobecome a famous and successful movie star or
singer. I can totally relate.Dreaming up ideas about what I want to
do someday is how children imagine whatit would be like to be talented,
(05:32):
confident, and successful. We adultsdo it. Sometimes dreaming is an act
of courage, giving children the imageryand leap of faith that they need as
they begin to think about their ownfuture. Talking about a dream of growing
up and doing is how children beginto create a mental scaffold as a bridge
(05:57):
between today and some day can happen, and parents can help support them with
that, asking questions like I wonderhow someone goes about learning how to do
that? Or what do you supposepeople need to do to learn to be
able to become a pilot, ateacher, a doctor, a mom.
(06:18):
In the article entitled the Importance ofplay on scholastic dot com, parents young
children learn by imagining and doing haveyou ever watched your child pick up a
stone and pretend it's a zooming car, or hop a lego piece across the
table as if it were a personor a buddy. The process of pretending
(06:43):
builds skills in so many essential developmentalareas well. They learned language skills.
Well have you ever listened to yourchild engage in imaginary play with his toys
and friends? How about when theydo an absolutely perfect imitation of you,
mom, dad, and the teacher? Scary but true. They also learn
(07:10):
social and emotional skills through cooperative play, and learn how to take turns and
share responsibility and how to creatively problemsolve. When your children pretend to be
different characters, they experience walking insomeone else's shoes, which helps to teach
them the important moral development skill ofempathy. And there's also thinking skills.
(07:35):
Pretend play provides your child with avariety of problems to solve, whether it's
two children wanting to play the samerole or searching for just the right material
to make a roof for the playhouse. Our children call upound upon important cognitive
skills that they will use every andevery aspect of their life now and forever.
(08:03):
So do your children or grandchildren engagein a bit of rough housing.
I know my house was full ofit. Great. Some researchers and believe
in early brain development believe that thissort of play helps develop the part of
the brain, the frontal lobe thatregulates behavior. Not too shabby, nurturing
(08:26):
the imagination for everyone. Play,laugh, be silly, dream big dreams
and act them out. Everyone canplay. Have your children be with you
and you be with them, andthat's always a big eye opener. Just
enjoy these moments. Our children areour greatest teachers. So Patricia Egan and
(08:48):
Patty Egan today are with us.Patricia is a single mother of three human
children and three fur babies. She'sa homeowner and works full time. Besides
all all of this, she's theauthor of an really wonderful book called The
Lioness You Can Change Your Future.Patty is the talented illustrator of the Lioness
(09:11):
You Can Change Your Future. Sheis the mother of two sons. While
attending Syracuse University, she became themother a mother in her third year,
and Patty never stopped calling herself anartist. To quote her, she said,
you never know when your blessings comeyou just have to be ready to
(09:33):
accept them. I am so veryhonored today to welcome both Patty and Patricia.
Patricia and Patty to the Family BalancingAct. Welcome, well, good
to have you, Good for youto have us. I am so honored.
(09:56):
It is just it's great. I'mjust so thrilled to of you one.
I'm trying to like get myself alittle organized. Here there we go,
so welcome, and how on earthdid you get here? How?
Tell us a little bit. I'llstart with you, Patricia, a little
bit about your journey and about yourself. Just gonna fill us in and what's
(10:20):
going on. So as she said, I'm a mother of three human children
from three fur babies. So inmy spare time I like to do photography.
I'm with the children, and ofcourse we like to watch TV together.
(10:43):
I got into writing when I wasyounger. I received a journal from
one of my aunts. She said, it may help me come out of
my shell a little bit if Iwrote down what I date each day.
And from there into high school,my favorite class was English and that's where
I started doing poetry. You ofthem either got them published in the school
(11:05):
magazine, and from there I juststarted um, going through the journey of
like writing down my everyday stories,some dreams. Um and the Lioness actually
came out of a dream which Iturned into a poem, which of course
now it was a children's book.I love it. I love it.
(11:26):
That is fantastic. What a whata journey. And the fact that you
took what you loved and you areyou've created from it. And Patty your
story is similar in that you youwent in you studied illustration. Yeah,
it's funny how both we call ourTricia, both Tricia and I. You
(11:48):
know, we were the first firstones in our within our siblings to have
children very young, and we alsowere both had boys. You know.
I took her to my her firstsonogram and that was a crazy journey which
we will not go into, um, but when I saw the sonogram and
it said Patricia Egan, it wasjust like wow. We really developed into
(12:13):
you know, a lot a lotof similarities that kept going throughout our lives.
We you know, we and herewe are. We both took two
different paths. I mean I studied, she did not study, but we
both got to the same place.And every time she you know, when
I was reading her book, Isaid, you know, I you know,
she developed her dream or the wordsthat she wrote, and I went
(12:39):
into her words and developed the artto go with it. And it just
so mashed meshed together, miss smashedtogether, and you know, so we
just it's just been really really fun. Um. I didn't I wasn't sure
in the beginning, but this wasone of my previous things in my in
my artist person that I wanted todo was illustrate a book. And now
(13:01):
I'm checking that one off my bucketlist too. Maybe that one will have
a nice long list and you'll keepgoing, oh, yeah, we're talking
about that. I'm not letting gonowhere yet. That's fantastic. So um,
Patricia, Patricia's I love that,Tricia. Um, Patricia, can
(13:22):
you expound on what um, alittle bit about the book and a little
about about that dream without giving outthe whole story of the book, but
um, just so that our listenerscan kind of glean what that is and
also the age range that you're lookingfor. Um, So the age range
(13:45):
of the book I chose was kindergartento about fifth grade. UM. And
understanding that all children like to beread too, even if they can't comprehend
what they're being read. Um.So as for some of the reviews,
I actually got back some feedback andthey said it's really good story for middle
schoolers because they can understand and relateit to their own lives, um as
(14:09):
they're growing up and from there.Really, I don't know. It just
I just woke up one day andI just felt really creative and I'm like,
you know what, I think,I'm just going to write this down.
Um. And the story itself isjust about a little girl. UM.
(14:33):
Well, I don't know, withouttrying to like give away goal,
well, it is that of aYeah. So it's at the beginning of
it, it's um an innocent viewthrough a little girl's eyes. As she
goes she slowly understands that there's moreto the world than she perfulously thought um
(14:58):
and going through with the lion asshe kind of picks out some stuff that
she would normally not see herself,and then she starts to understand that some
of the things that she was previouslyscared of of or previously learned to be
true was not actually as it seemed. And that's where she expanded into well,
if this is not what it seemedthen maybe other people are just like
(15:20):
me and they're seeing stuff that it'snot true. Also, so from there,
she's trying to explain as she goesto those dreamers that she found that
there's more to the world than theywere previously taught. I love it isn't
the world like that for real?You know? And so I would love
(15:41):
to hear how again, Patricia,how as a child? What was your
childhood like that got you on thispath? And do you see yourself in
as this little girl? A lotof my work has to do with my
growing up and I had a bigimagination. I still have a big imagination.
(16:06):
Um um so um. Like Isaid previously, I actually received a
journal because I was just stand offishwith a lot of people and I didn't
like speaking to them. I likemy own space, um. And I
just I can express myself better andwritten word than vocally, as you guys
can probably tell right now. Don'tdo that to yourself. Now. Do
(16:30):
you're have a family balancing act?It's great, um, I I believe
it's so important for um children,our children, the children of the world
to have a foundation of courage andlove and respect for themselves. Definitely love
(16:56):
from your book. Okay, itjust it calls it's also a great book
for adults. It really is.It makes you think in a deeper way.
So many times we get so caughtup in life that we're not going
to the place, a deeper placethat we can get through, like through
(17:22):
prayer or meditation, how artwork,you know, writing however, illustrating,
however we get there, but tothis place of knowing we're okay and that
we we can continue to love ourselvesup and when we do so, we
love the world up. That wasIt's beautiful inner my own inner journey and
(17:42):
reading this, I'm going to holdthe book up for our are those that
are watching the the Facebook live orany of this pass on YouTube, but
it's it's fantastic. So Patty,yeah, I know through the words,
you know, you're like, yes, how through the words that Patricia had
(18:03):
put onto paper and she had createdthis this beautiful flow. I love the
It is so poetic and poignant thesame time. UM, and your illustrations.
I'm up a page to an illustrationhere. This is one of my
favorites. UM, and for thoseof you're listening, I'm holding up a
(18:27):
page that has the Lioness on it, and can you describe that you're working
well, both are the lioness andthe girl. Just they're in a um
you know, they're they're down andthey're kind of hidden and not sure when
they're going to come out of itor not. Is what I proceed from
(18:48):
it is that you know, it'syou know, you're when you're in there
on that line, Am I gonnatake the leap or I'm gonna stay where
I am comfortable? Just like Trishawas saying. You know, she was
and she was all many many yearsstandoffish and I kind of wrestled her to
the ground many a time just fora hug. And now I'm doing it
(19:11):
with her daughters, but taken afterme. But they're learning how monstral stuff,
yeah, ancestral. Yeah, Butthey love the idea that their mom
wrote this book and that they're youknow, and it's perfect for them because
there they are, the girls thatare coming of age and they've got to
(19:32):
come out of that in order toget into the world. Just like Triciada,
you know what I mean. Somany people, even family have said,
Tricia did that. Tricia's doing that. I said, yeah, we're
doing it together and we're making ithappen together. So it's it's just been
a lot of fun. And Idon't know, I'm not talking about the
artwork right now. I'm talking abouther. She's just really the apple of
(19:56):
my eye. Hell, and shehas her name, is it right there?
I that's that's fantastic. So forwomen out there who are moms,
you know, a single mother,um, a very young mother, you
(20:18):
know when you had Patty, whenyou had your firstborn, often what happens
is that women, even married womenwho are married and there, whatever life
goes on, we get crowded byfamily stuff. And even if the kids
have left, we're always we neverstop thinking about them, worrying about them,
(20:38):
what's going on with them. Butat the same time, we have
to get out of our shell,get out of our own way. We
don't have to. You can spendthe rest of your life like that,
but you both obviously haven't. Sowhat advice can you give someone who is
looking to begin to write, tobecome a writer? Patricia, I'd say,
(21:03):
just give yourself a little bit oftime each day to decompress and just
buy yourself a journal or a notebookor even type on your phone or your
computer, anything that you can usejust to get the words out of your
head. Doesn't need to make sense, it doesn't need to be well written
for somebody to read. It's justfor you. And once you get that
(21:26):
going and you steadily keep on goingwith that, you can come up with
a lot of things and your imaginationcan get brighter and brighter. And then
you can just keep on telling yourselfthat if you take in the positive and
don't listen to that negative, thatslowly you can get yourself out or into
whatever figament that you want to bein. So say you're down right now,
(21:48):
you just keep on telling yourself andtaking in that positivity and you can
bring yourself up. You just it'sjust how you look at the world beautiful.
And then when you're saying to taketo you know, to get to
that place where you can actually putpen to paper or start typing. How
(22:10):
let's life is crazy? Yeah,you've got three kids and it's like when
you know you woke up, you'relike, oh, I got to get
this out of my head. Butbreakfast needs to be made, kids need
to go to school, I haveto go to work. Our lives get
in the way of our dreams.So what is what is something you do
(22:33):
to get to the place where youactually pick up a pen and paper.
I constantly have a notebook with me, and if I don't, I use
the notes on my phone. Evenif you're working full time, you always
have that like five ten minutes toyourself and you can do it. Then
you can just have like a littletiny notebook and keep it in your purse
(22:56):
with a pen. And if youcome up with like one simple thought,
one word, just write it downnow. When you go back to it
later, it might just trigger somethingin you and you can remember what you
wanted to say when you have alittle bit more time to write it down.
Even if it's just like, wellI got up today and I've made
breakfast for my children. That's somethingyou're writing, right, That's great.
(23:19):
I ran across a journal that Ihad written when I was first becoming I
was pregnant with my first child,and I thought I'd gotten rid of a
lot of those old journals, andI just was blown away by what I
had found. Just how much I'veblossom changed, but yet how wise that
(23:42):
young woman was. Because we arealways who we are, We're just expanding
it, even if you don't remember. Definitely, it's really good to look
back at some of your old workjust to remember and just like, yeah,
I was there and now I'm here, and then I'm proud of myself
(24:03):
and I'll bring some of that forwardand leave some of it. But I
have a lot of stuff I justleft behind. I Yes, I'm here
right now. Good girl. That'sthat's fantastic to hear, Patty. As
far as doing illustration, because I'vehad in your introduction, you never lost
(24:26):
knowing you were always an artist,which I find profound because you know,
so many times we can just goI used to do that. M I
started saying that, and then Italked my stuff. I know I am
an artist, and not even justthat I went to school for it,
but I even went. You know, when I was little, I always
(24:49):
wanted when I saw art, Iwanted to, you know, be that
creative person that did that. Howdid they do that? I want to
do that too. And when Iwent to school, and then after I
became a mother, my father hadsaid, you are never going to go
back to school. You you youknow, he was very negative about that
(25:11):
last little bit of his life.Because when he when I went and graduated,
he died seven days after, sohe knew that it all worked out.
You know, he died with asmile on his face. I think.
But yeah, we it's just animportant part to say it to yourself.
(25:33):
You know that I am the personI'm going to do more and it
takes a lot. And now thatI'm kind of alone here in my I
just you know, I have grandchildren, so when I want them, I
can just love on them and thenthey go back to their parents. That's
(25:55):
that's fantastic, lucky you. That'sgood. I should just send mine over
to you for a little while,a little while again, right, you
don't want you to be alone forlong. So through the journey of life,
Patty you, how did you keepyour artwork going? How did you
(26:15):
keep that going within you? Well, it was very difficult because I had
to wait till, you know,kids are asleep, because I couldn't do
it and give up that time fromme coming home at five o'clock making dinner,
do you know, get everything togetherand then have a little bit of
quality time with them if I'm doingartwork. That's why I perceived it.
(26:37):
So I waited till they went tobed. My ex husband was a very
ill man, taking care of him, making sure everything flows. And then
I catched some time of my own, going I've got to do it or
I'm not because I'm going to giveup on it. I'm not going to
give up on it. So here, I am not giving up. That's
(26:57):
that. Well, you can tellall you haven't given up. It's incredible,
it really is. It's it's just, um, these could actually be
made into mugs, T shirts goingwild. I have a couple of favorites,
so that just might happen. Yeah, you know, I think I'm
(27:19):
going to be on the list forthe T shirts. Just it's very cool.
Now you had mentioned about doing uma series. Can I grab some
info on that? Are you willingto talk a little bit about that or
just that is all Aunt Patty atthe momentum. She just ran it past
(27:41):
me yesterday and I'm like, thatis actually inspiring me just to think about
it and start writing a few poemsto see what we can come up with.
That's great. You know, whenyou put it out there into the
universe on a big plat, ona bigger platform than just the two of
people, it happens. So it'sgoing to happen. Yeah, absolutely,
(28:04):
it will happen. I um,you know this U touching the heart and
the soul of of children. Andand you have a great test test subjects
you both do actually with grandchildren andwith your own children to um to rent
(28:25):
it by them? Were their favoritebooks Patty, Patricia that you like to
read when you were a child.Um, I can't think of any that
I like to read as a child. Actually didn't get into reading until I
was, um, probably almost thirty. Um. Yeah, I just like
(28:51):
to hear a bunch of stories.It's usually just like all the princess stories,
of course, because that's what Igrew up on. M M.
It's great. And Patty, didyou have any childhood books that you remember
that you liked? You know,when I think of my childhood books,
I'm not thinking of mine. Igo right to what did my kids like?
(29:11):
You know? We were a catin the hat every night? I
knew it by heart? But canmove? Can't you? Are you?
You know? Help that you youwere going to remember something of your own
And it transitions into oh that whatwas happening with my children at that age?
(29:34):
And that took go over with amemory. You know, sometimes my
memories are vivid from youth, andthen sometimes when somebody asked me something,
I say, I go right totheir you know, what was going on
with my kids at that age.So I don't really remember, you know
that. I actually remember one bookand it wasn't actually a book. It
(29:57):
was the Children's diction Nary and theanimal books. Do you remember those animal
books? The nature books that hada two sided one animal on one side,
you flip it over, one animalon the other. I used to
do little essays on my own aboutthose animals because I used to want to
(30:17):
be a vat when I was younger, and I just wanted to take all
the information I could learn in.So it did start, and it started
when I was younger. Yeah.See, the more we talk, the
more it's just coming back. Andhere you've got your dogs in the back,
because yeah, I'll be right back. Um, he wants to join
(30:41):
the camera. No, no worries, No worries. I'm going to just
um that. That's great. Ah. So um, Patty, when you
were uh a, you know,a child, obviously you can't remember those
those books. But do you rememberthe game? All the games you used
to play. Um. Yeah,Twister was the biggest one when happened.
(31:07):
You know, we you know,we had four children and Twister was a
big one. Um. And thenyou know, it just went to I'll
if I do girls stuff where Ido boy stuff. You know, I
hung around with Jimmy, um andfor a lot of stuff we did boy
stuff. You know, we wentup to the park. He kicked the
ball, I chased the ball.Um. You know, but you know
it just uh, oh there's mymother's cat. That's really funny, and
(31:33):
it's all about you. Yeah,there she is. Oh look at that.
Isn't that great? I know it'sat fur babies. We forget whoa
how important they are to our ourfamilies. They are family, they are
(31:56):
well. I know it's we're,we're, we're we're gonna close it down
for today. But I am justso honored to have you. I think
just because the we're so like,you're done, You're done, I want
your attention. Now. He wantsto go outside. I don't blame them.
It's actually pretty nice. Again ifyou can tell us where everything about
(32:22):
where to find you and where tofind your books. Um. The book
is on Amazon dot com. Soif you're searching without the link, it's
going to be the Lioness, andthen you're going to put Patricia Egan e
g An and it will pop upunder the Amazon search results, and then
(32:43):
both mine and Aunt Patty's name willbe under that, and then our profiles
perfect. Well, it was absolutelya joy having you on. I'm telling
the reader, the listeners, theLioness you can change your future is really
it's deep, it's good, it'sshort, it's sweet, and yes,
(33:05):
it's it's you could read it toa five year old and to a twelve
year old, and to a fortyyear old and a sixty year old and
beyond, because it hits you atyour soul. I just it's it's beautiful.
And I'm so honored to have hadyou come on today and so grateful.
Thank you so very much. Andif you take a moment, I
(33:30):
just want to say to all ofour listeners, thank you so much for
joining us here at the Family BalancingAct. So if you take a moment
and close your eyes and take adeep breath and release it and that you're
not alone, You're on a familyBalancing Act, than
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