Lillie-Beth Brinkman
Lillie-Beth Brinkman marvels daily about the joys her three children bring, the insight they offer and how children from the same two parents can be so different. But then again, where would be the fun in that?
Being a divorced parent of two boys, ages 8 and 3, and a daughter, age 6, brings its own challenges, but the family of four laughs often, discusses subjects of life that range from “Who made God?” to “I think for my birthday in 2010, I would like to …” and stresses out when racing to get anywhere on time.
She would love to hear from readers about how they juggle activities and bedtime and homework and the big issues of life along with work while smiling, or not, especially those who are doing it mostly on their own or feel like they are. One of her milestones as a single parent was taking all three children cross country in the car by herself on vacation. For some reason, doing that seems easier than answering questions about playground politics and other relationships.
She is a writer/editor for The Oklahoman’s niche publications department.
Alan Herzberger
Alan Herzberger, OPUBCO Communications Group’s director of custom publishing, is the husband of one and the father of three. He and his wife, Jennifer, have an 7-year-old boy, a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl. Now that they have a girl, they will stop having children.
Carla Hinton
Carla Hinton, who writes about religion, is the divorced mother of three, ages 20, 15 and 13. She is a single parent who credits her children for keeping her life filled with joy and humor, even in the most challenging times.
Lindsey Johnson
I can install a new faucet all by myself. I can ride my bike 100 miles over mountains. I can create extraordinary meals with leftovers from last week and partially used containers of food from my pantry and fridge. I can successfully give up meat for all of Lent. I have written the better part of two novels – not so much because I was dying to write the Great American Novel, but because I had to in order to get my professional writing degree from OU. I can parallel park better than anyone I know. I do a fairly decent job of managing content for a 72-page entertainment publication at The Oklahoman. I once drove eight Special Olympians from the southwest corner of Colorado to the northeast corner when I was eight months pregnant for the state meet. I can create cucumbers from seeds … there is little more to it than that, but sort of I can do that.
I can do all of these things, but I cannot make my 3-year-old use a toilet. However, my 1-year-old thinks I’m a rock star. And most days that is enough.
Every morning I can’t wait until they get up and every night I can’t wait until they go to sleep. Being a parent is a new and exciting and often messy adventure every day.
Lindsey is a custom publishing writer/editor. She and her husband live in eastern Oklahoma County with their two girls.
Chris Jones
Chris Jones, feature writer at The Oklahoman. For several years I wrote for what was the Family section of The Oklahoman. We no longer have that section, but I am very interested in issues relevant to Oklahoma families.
I am a widow, mother of two married daughters and six grandsons. Michelle and her husband, Mike live in Norman with their sons ages 7, 9, and 15. My daughter Melinda and her husband John live in Cherry Hill New Jersey, with their sons ages 2, 6, and 9 years. I have participated in the volunteer tutoring program at OPUBCO for several years. I teach a third grade student at North Highland, an elementary school adopted by The Oklahoman. I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren and sharing their interests.
I see the New Jersey grandchildren about three times a year, and that is difficult, because I miss them and my daughter. Both of my sons- in-law are wonderful men, and they are very involved with their families whether it is ironing and folding clothes, bathtime, or music and sports.
I have two cats, Big Boy, about 15 years old, and Twiggy, newly adopted. She is two.
My grandchildren in Norman, have a white lab puppy, a calico cat, and a hamster. The grandchildren in New Jersey have a cat named Poppy.
Linda Lynn
Linda Lynn is a 42-year-old mother of three beautiful, spirited children: Katie, 13; Kaci, 9; and Cade, 3. Having children in a range of ages, from a teen-ager to a toddler with Down Syndrome, keeps her busy from the early hours of the morning until late at night. Her favorite part about being a mother is getting to share her children’s hopes and dreams and watching them grow each day. But there’s a lot of turmoil as well as laughter mixed in-between. In her other job, Linda works full-time as News Research Editor at The Oklahoman. She’s also married to fellow journalist and The Oklahoman’s Outdoor Editor Ed Godfrey.
Susan Simpson
Susan Simpson lives in Edmond with her husband Sean, their 5-year-old daughter Adison and 10-year-old stepdaughter Piper. To balance all the GIRL DRAMA in their house, the family has three male dogs, one ancient male cat and a goldfish of unknown gender. It’s perpetual chaos but also a lot of fun. Susan is the higher education reporter for The Oklahoman.
Erica Smith
Copy editor for The Oklahoman, is a divorced mom of a 2-year-old boy, Hunter.
Having a toddler is the greatest thing imaginable. Sometimes I don’t want him to get any older - I want him to stay 2 forever. Other times, I want to just pull my hair out and I find myself saying things I never thought I would say … like “please don’t wipe your boogers on your shirt!” before I frantically look for a tissue while driving down the highway. But without a doubt, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I live for the moments where I get a big grin and even an “I wah woo!” and I know exactly what he’s saying.
I am from Connecticut originally and my whole family still lives there, so being a single parent it is difficult without having that immediate support system around. My son is also my mom’s first grandchild so that makes it especially hard on her to be so far away. I do have a great network of friends, most of whom are parents themselves, so I always have an ear.
I would love to get to know other parents, especially single parents and learn about what they go through on a day to day basis.
Christy Watson
Christy Watson is a part-time editorial writer for The Oklahoman, focusing largely on education and related issues. At all times, she’s a wife and mom to a 5-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son who keep her laughing and busy and are a constant reminder of the important things in life.