Part 1- Meet Jumana. A 45 year old United States Airforce Veteran. She is a proud wife and mother, a personal development coach, a yoga teacher, and the author of two children’s books. In 2002 Jumana was 24 years old, serving active duty in the United States Air Force when she gave birth to her first child. After receiving orders to deploy to South Korea when her son was just a baby, she faced the painful reality of leaving him for an entire year to serve her country. With a 13 hour time difference and very few updates from back home, her marriage to her son’s father began unraveling at the seams. Upon her return one year later, an agreement to divorce and share joint custody was made. A few years later when she received orders to move from a base in Mississippi to one in South Carolina everything shifted. The realization that her child’s father had become the primary custodian of their son during that initial deployment years prior stood firmly in the way of any parental rights she assumed were equally hers. A legal technicality that was established by default and without her knowledge, while serving her country, proved impossible to reverse, un-do, or amend despite her best efforts.
When a single father without primary custody is deployed we don’t tend to react negatively. We see this as both honorable and heroic. And it is! But when it’s a mother, we question it. Regardless of the fact that it wasn’t her preference and regardless of the fact that she answered call after call to serve her county, the questions, judgements and assumptions lauded against her for 18 years about what kind of mother she must be to not have primary custody of her child, never ended.
In this episode Jumana tells us a heartbreaking yet heartwarming story about her life as a noncustodial mother. She breaks down exactly what occurred before, during, and after that initial deployment. We discuss judgment, stereotypes, and what it means for a zip code to have no bearing on a mother’s emotional presence in her child’s life.
Link to check out Jumana’s Mindset Mastery coaching program: https://mailchi.mp/31765b0851f1/mindset-mastery-program
Link to Jumana’s FIRST book, Weekend Warrior: Going to Visit my Mom: https://a.co/d/jaY5s3C
Link to Jumana’s SECOND book, Weekend Warrior: Going to Visit my Dad: https://a.co/d/gOcRrh2
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