Applicant #1: Jan Coad

Jan Coad is a mom from Tacoma.

My video application:

Find me online:

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A bit about me:

Quite a bit has changed since I was the first applicant in 2009 for the Verity Mom Job. I have had 2 books published and for 6 months I've hosted a weekly radio show called FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS (which is the working title of a memoir I've recently completed.) Life is an adventure and we are living a fabulous new experience aboard a work-in-progress 1946, 62-foot yacht. Leaving land for life on the water was the most amazing thing I've ever done. I have so much to share with area moms and would look forward to that opportunity if I should be so lucky.

My blog post:

 What Does Being a Mom Mean to Me?

I have been a mother for twenty years and I continue to learn new things about this job every day. It is both the best and the hardest job any parent can embark on. Growing up I was the middle child and often felt quite invisible. Sometimes I felt as though I was observing life rather than participating. Now that I'm forty-two years old I know that my experiences growing up have a name "Asperger's" on the autism spectrum. 

This discovery came about from obtaining an autism diagnosis for our son a few years back. He was always rigidly routine-oriented. Once when he was two we took our four children camping (when the love of my life and I married we each had a daughter and a son.) Now what child wouldn't love camping in a large tent with mom, dad and his brother and two sisters? I soon learned that my son didn't. He wasn't in his bedroom, in his bed - even though he was on a mattress right next to mom and could hold hands. All was okay until it got dark and we went to bed. First he whimpered, then the crying began and before long it was full-scale screaming.

We were at a loss? We took him to the car to see if his car seat would calm him. As luck would have it, the aftermarket alarm system decided this would be the exact moment in time when it had enough and began one continuous alarm sound that wouldn't be silenced. 

I began asking myself why I thought camping was a good idea as my husband was under the hood of the car trying to find the wires to cut for disabling the alarm system.

The following morning I overheard others in the showers discussing the "bratty" child who'd had a tantrum and screamed all night. It was all I could do at the time to not run out and say, "If you think you can do better, you try!"

For months my son had been pulling his hair and hitting himself in the head when he'd become overwhelmed. I'd begun doubting my parenting abilities.

Now that I understand autism and sensory processing issues life has dramatically changed for us and we are thankful for the gifts that autism brings as well as the challenges. It is now my joy to explain to others that differences are just that, things that make us unique individuals. Differences don't have to be seen as bad or scary when understood properly. Our son is now thirteen-years-old and in middle school and loving living aboard our boat. Being a mom has changed my life and I am so proud of both my daughter and son and all they have accomplished.

Jan