As I walked into a meeting Wednesday afternoon, my phone vibrated with a new email message. “angiesmom is following you on Twitter”. I got a huge grin on my face. My mom is following me-too cute! You see, my mom is young. She graduated early from high school (read brain child), got married at age 18 and had me when she was 19. We grew up together, more like sisters than mother-daughter. She’s so playful and pretty into technology for the baby boomer that she is. (She knew the intricacies of AOL long before I did).

I haven’t ever talked with my mother about Twitter but she reads my blog so I guess she knows about the affair. Likely, she thought she better get more informed to see if an intervention is necessary

My mom has never been the stay-at-home, PTA president type. She’s always worked and been a career woman. Over the years, I’ve wished that she had stayed home with me and sometimes resented that she hadn’t. This summer, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my relationships with the people in my life. This included the one with my mother. As you guys know, mother-daughter relationships are always complex. We daughters put a lot of pressure on our mothers don’t we?  I often think about what’s coming back to me from my daughter in the future…I’m sure in volumes to the nth degree.

What my summer of reflection has brought me to with my mom is that she supports me in all kinds of ways. Ways that are her own. No, she’s not a PTA mom but that’s not who she is. As I wrote in my last post, this seems to be the age of authenticity. My mom’s been living that message for a long time. She’s been steadfastly her as long as I can remember…Independently Nina. Here I am striving to be as clean and real as I can be and I’ve had a role model doing it right in front of me for as long as I’ve been alive. What do you know?

My mom gave me the coffee cup in the picture above sometime during my sophomore year in college. I’ve had it in every office I’ve ever had. She likely never knew how many times I shut my door, grabbed it during a tough afternoon in the office, had a soothing cup of tea in lieu of losing my temper over a negotiation gone sour. It really is the little things that keep us going sometimes isn’t it?

So, this week, I’ve received another new gift from my mom. One that, until now, she didn’t know how much it means to me. Because, after all, I’m really in love with Twitter and the magnitude of it’s power for all working moms and business owners.

My mom is following me on Twitter. Amazing! Thanks for everything Mom!

(Note, my moms twitter name isn’t Angiesmom.  I’ll protect her a little until she gets the hang of things.  Didn’t want her to have 500 followers overnight!  You can, however, follow me @aaswartz on Twitter)