It Was Everything: The Listen To Your Mother Boston 2014 Wrap Up

"She believed she could do it, so she did." A truly triumphant @LTYMshow #Boston. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
— Cheryl P. Stober (@cherylstober) April 26, 2014

I'd seen that quote a while ago, and when I dared to type it in my Twitter drafts the morning of our show this past weekend, I felt that "magic sparkler energy" that I had been assured I would feel. I saved the tweet, knowing that in the post-show chaos I'd want to send out a quick word to the vast LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER universe that awaits this news, and I said a prayer that it would still be the tweet I'd want to send.

Producing a show while being a wife, mother, daughter, product manager, blogger and friend has not been easy. There were many points along the way where I doubted my skills, doubted that I was capable of handling everything, doubted my instincts. I didn't know how to order a 30"x40" poster. I didn't know how to be on the radio. I didn't know if I could bring together a group of mostly strangers and turn them into a kind of a family.

But I never doubted why I was doing it. I knew that no matter what went on behind the scenes, the show itself, the stories we would be telling, would be amazing. And they were. I'll be sharing my story with you later this week.

That night, our fearless leader Ann said she was heartbroken not to be able to attend all of our shows in person, and I responded with the following. "It was everything, EVERYTHING, that you all promised it would be. Our cast was flawless. The venue was lovely. The audience was warm and fully engaged. For the first time ever, I cried while reading my piece, and so did my mom AND my 10yo daughter. Jessica and Phyllis were amazing. We took in a couple large donations for our cause. I'm completely exhausted but have one last question: WHEN CAN WE DO IT ALL AGAIN?"

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Marc, Hannah and Max for all of their love and support throughout this process. To my Mom and brother Ryan for flying across the country to be here with me. To Fillis and John for always being there. To Kimberly, Samantha and Stirling for being our volunteers and live-tweeting the show. To the friends who came and inspire me to keep building this community. To Jessica and Phyllis for accompanying me and my million emails on this journey, and to our cast for sharing yourselves with us so fully. 

We'll be back next year. And there are lots of cities still left to perform - check out the schedule at listentoyourmothershow.com.

Here are a few posts written by our amazing cast:
Dollops of Diane, "Listen To Your Mother - Show Recap"
Don't Mind the Mess, "Thanks for Listening"
Next Life, NO Kids, "Our Power is Not Unique"
Eyerollingmom, "Desperately Seeking the Humor in Perfect(ly Flawed) Children"
Cameron D. Garriepy, "31 Flavors of Fearless: Sixteen, Listen To Your Mother"

And here is the Storify with all the social media shout outs I could capture.