Meet the Moms Behind the Column - or - Which Wakefield Mom Has Walked on Hot Coals, And Was it Easier Than Raising Kids?

So just who the heck are these savvy and opinionated ladies anyway?  This week the Wakefield Moms' Council opens up and shares a little bit about themselves.  The common theme is a love of Wakefield and, for some of them, no love lost for housework…

Regina Martine
When I was asked to write for Wakefield Patch, I joked that I was picked for my writing ability, not my parenting ability, since my resume was basically two years of snarkily complaining on Facebook about being a stay-at-home mom. I have no real qualifications to give out parenting advice other than my own experiences.

Besides being a mom, I am a freelance graphic designer, an occasional vegetarian, an aspiring artist, a hot yoga addict, and a pretty good cook. I am not a “local” since I have only lived in Wakefield for eight years, but I love it here and I try to get involved in the community.

So ... how did I get here? Boston had me at hello. I visited for the first time when I was fifteen, and I knew I wanted to live here, but that did not happen for another twelve years.  I had a rather, um, eclectic college career. I bounced around for a while, but eventually transferred to Marist College where I graduated with a degree in English. I grew up in the snowbound and landlocked ‘burbs of Syracuse, so a cosmopolitan city close to the ocean, the mountains and coincidentally home to many friends from college had a lot of appeal. 

My husband was still in school at Marist and working full-time, so we needed to stay in that area until he graduated. I knew I wanted to work in publishing, but that didn’t seem to be possible at the time. I worked in a health food store, I tutored ESL students at the local community college, and I worked in the office of Yasgur Farms, selling milk over the phone to schools and convenience stores for a whopping $7 an hour.  So in between jobs, I researched companies in Boston … and sent them my husband’s resume.  I contacted college friends and asked them for job leads. He graduated in December 1996, got a job offer in Back Bay, we found a teeny apartment in Brighton and moved here the following January. I landed a job at a newsletter publisher the first full day we were here. Boston, you’re my home.

So, 2 years in the itty bitty city apartment led to buying a house in Arlington. Five years later with a two-year-old and a newborn, we moved to Wakefield. The newsletter publishing job led to graduate school at Emerson to study publishing. I got a job as a graphic designer with a book publisher and went to design school. Two kids became three. And so here I am.  

Peggy Barresi
I have a friend who grew up in Wakefield and is now raising her family here. Normal errands around town take her twice as long as they should because one in three people stops her to say “hello.” I love that about this place. There is a real sense of community in Wakefield and I’m so glad my husband and I settled here to raise our children.

I grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an apartment building right on the beach. I chose to go to college in Boston, because I wanted to experience snow. That was 30 years ago, and while I’ve seen more snow than I’d like, I never left. I moved to Wakefield in 1997, and while some in town would still classify us as newcomers and not “real Wakefieldians,” I assure you we are very vested in this community.

We give of our time and money to help forward good causes in town. I’ve served as president of the Walton School PTO, as publicity chair for the Wakefield Parent Partnership lecture series, and was one of the key members of the Wakefield Cares override campaign a few years ago. We are supporters of the Wakefield Center for Performing Arts, the Beebee Library, WEF, Wakefield Food Pantry, and the Wakefield Music Boosters. These, and so many other great organizations, are part of what makes our town so great.

My family enjoys traveling and experiencing other cultures. We enjoy cooking, music, art, Broadway shows, dancing, and good wine. If you drive by my house in the summer, you will probably see my husband out tending his beloved vegetable garden. I am an avid reader and am currently trying my hand at some memoir writing of my own. I turn 50 in September, but still feel as young and vital as ever. Maybe more so!

I’ve been a working mother and a stay-at-home mom. I am not a parenting expert, far from it. I am, however, an experienced parent who has relied on intuition, books, and advice from friends and family to get through the challenging times. I have the oldest kids of the MomTalk bunch, one off to college in the fall and one a freshman in high school. I’ve been enjoying contributing to this column immensely and hope my experiences can help others or at least generate discussion.

Holly DeSouza
If you look at my life purely from a geographical standpoint, I didn’t get very far.

My grandfather was born and raised in Wakefield.  He met my grandmother (from Melrose) and they dated when he got back from World War II. They married and moved to Melrose but spent their holidays (including the parade on the 4th of July) every year in Wakefield.  Years later, when my mother married my father, they moved into the house still owned by my grandfather in Wakefield and started their family.  I was born in Wakefield and spent the first 7 years of my life year here. 

Thirty years later, my husband and I were starting a family of our own and looking to buy a single family home in a nice suburb with easy commuting access to town for our careers.  And now I own a home in Wakefield with a family of my own.

I love this town! It’s perfect for our needs as a family and lets me relive my memories as a young girl through my daughter.  We walk downtown just like I used to with my mother.  My daughter goes to story hour in the same library I used to.  My pediatrician is still practicing and shares his practice with my daughter’s pediatrician. 

My husband is not from Wakefield but loves it just as much for different reasons.  We can go for a walk around the lake and end up at one of many parks.  We’ve met great people who enjoy raising their families in Wakefield as much as we do and share the same experiences. 

I have had my moments of feeling trapped in suburbia and, if you were watching, it was not pretty.  As with most other tantrums I have had, I have done an amazing job convincing myself it is normal.  You can’t go from working and living in the city with a life on the fast track to moving to a beautiful, quiet town where you spend most days with other moms and their kids at the park.  But Wakefield has managed to give us the best of both worlds and is the best option for our kid. 

Speaking of the fast track, I did once have a full time career.  And it was not in any educational or child-rearing field.  I am not an expert on parenting by any means.  I raise my daughter only with experience from being a child, a cousin, a friend, and an aunt multiple times over.  I will never pretend to have the answers – I’m still looking for them myself.  But our council of extremely respectable and smart women come from all different worlds with one great thing in common: We are all raising our families in Wakefield.

Laurie Hunt
I grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts the oldest of three children.  My dad was a school teacher and then principal in town and my mom was home with us until my youngest brother was in high school.

I moved to Wakefield when I got married in March of 1995.  I have always been most impressed with just how much people in this town care for each other and never stop reaching out to help one another.  I care very deeply about my community and do my best to support it by actively volunteering and shopping local at some of my favorite Wakefield businesses: , , , , and.  

In another life, I worked for a small trust company for almost ten years and then a small investment firm both in downtown Boston. For more than ten years now I have been “Rebecca and/or Jessie’s Mom”. I guess this also technically makes me a homemaker but I hate that term as much as I hate housework!  I am also wife to Keith – an amazing partner in this crazy journey called life.  I have absolutely love the time I have had home with my girls; I am, however; finding it harder now that they are in school.

I am a "serial volunteer, "currently serving as the President of the Greenwood School PTO, Executive Board member for the Wakefield Education Special Education Parent Advisory Council,  Secretary for the Town Wide Financial Review Committee, Sunday Principal/Substitute Teacher Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, Girl Scout Leader… just to name a few things. ;-)  I have also worked on several local campaigns and love local politics.  I am also an avid photographer [check out www.lauriehuntphotography.com] and have volunteered my services on many occasions for local events as well as political candidates.

If I had to describe myself I would say I am both confident as well as caring.  One of my favorite quotes is one by Sean O’Casey: “Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.”  I try to remember this every day.  I don’t have too many secrets, I wear my heart on my sleeve and spend far too much time on facebook for that!  My guilty pleasures are Jersey Shore, red wine, American Idol and tie dye t-shirts and jeans.

Tasha Schlake Festel
I am a mother, woman, wife, volunteer, daughter, coach, writer, marketer, entrepreneur, friend, baker, procrastinator, Daisy Scout troop leader, risk taker, room parent, nanny, athlete, over-achiever, trouble-maker, chauffeur, neighbor, sister, competitor and lunatic. I am confident, bold, self-conscious, independent, scared, fashionable, out-spoken, understanding, dorky, funny, inappropriate, shy, flabby, strong, critical, inquisitive, accepting, loving, generous, reserved and confused. And I have good hair.

I’m every woman. It’s all in me!

I was born in Tacoma, WA and grew up in Nazareth, PA in a supportive family with strong and loving parents and a kick-ass older sister. I graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in Advertising and a BS in Marketing and took a job in insurance, which had absolutely nothing to do with anything I had ever done or had any interest in. The job transferred me to Hartford and eventually to the Boston area in 1997 where I immediately left insurance, later met my husband and put down roots to raise a family. We moved to Wakefield in 2005 and have become fully entrenched in the community. I love it in this crazy little town!

Make no mistake. I have absolutely no business giving anyone parenting advice. I do most things wrong. But, my kids are miraculously happy, well-mannered and seemingly productive members of society for 5- and 7-year-olds. (As an aside, I recently listened to a brief interview with Bryan Caplan, who wrote Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, a book detailing that “upbringing is much less important than genetics in the long run.” Interesting stance! Take that, Tiger Mom!)

As I have explained in a previous post on , I am a working mom, attempting to strike the perfect balance of being mommy and being me. I work part-time from home as an Internet Marketing Manager for a company based in Pennsylvania. When I’m not doing that, I am perfecting my cake baking and cupcake making skills, preparing to dominate the world and cover it in buttercream. And when I’m not doing either of those things, I’m hanging out with my husband and kids, volunteering for various school and town committees, exercising and obsessively checking email. The two things I am generally NOT doing are sleeping or cleaning my house. You know, something’s gotta give!

Since I’m revealing so much fascinating information about myself, here are some things few people know about me:

• I have walked on hot coals.
• I have been in two fist fights.
• I cry easily.
• I have always wanted to be a hairdresser.
• I would give a kidney – or give up tequila – to never have to do laundry again.
• Until I had children and all pride went out the window, I would lip sync “Happy Birthday” because my singing voice is so terrible.
• I wanna be a billionaire so freakin’ bad.
• In a former life I was a Mary Kay Consultant.
• I have more ideas than three lifetimes would ever allow me to act upon.
• My parents are two of my best friends.

I try not to take myself – or life – too seriously. I attempt to live without looking back, doing the best that I can without second-guessing my decisions. I apply this philosophy to parenting as much as possible, but there are nights when I replay the day and wish I’d done it differently. I remind myself that dwelling doesn’t help and that I’ll just do better tomorrow. Every day is a new day to try again, and I attempt to do that regularly. I hope to pass this on to my kids. Life is hard enough without beating yourself up about it.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of writing for Wakefield Patch. It’s given me an opportunity to think, create, communicate, (hopefully) entertain and solidify my own opinions on various topics. I thank you all for reading, and hope you continue to do so!