My Mom was A Swan...
Have you ever heard of the game two truths and a lie? I would play this game as an ice breaker with my students sometime during the first week of school.
My two truths and lie:
My favorite animal is an elephant.
My favorite color is hot pink.
My mom was on a reality T.V. show called The Swan in the 2000's.
Let's face it, the 2000's to a bunch of 12–16-year-olds is so long ago! Ugh Mrs. Kane, I did not think you were that old. No Cap Mrs. Kane you are in your 40's. Yes, the teacher life and the kids would always think that I was lying about my mom being on Televison. When I would proudly announce that my lie was my favorite color is hot pink and that I tricked them the questions would overflow about the show, how did she get on it? Were you on Televison too? How many surgeries did she get?
My objective had been met; I had their attention at least for ten minutes so I could segway into what I really wanted to teach.
The Swan was a reality television show about plastic surgery and a pageant. However, when my mom called me to tell me she had been accepted to be on a televison show called The Swan and it was about empowering women I was genuinely excited for her, I was living in Las Vegas, Nevada and going to UNLV, I was not at home in Colorado, I was 20 years old, living my best life having my own adventures and learning life lessons in Sin City.
The main thing that changed for me when she went on the show is we could not talk on the phone, (maybe this was prepping me for bootcamp) she could call once a week and had 10 minutes of phone time to split between my sister and myself. I missed our phone calls. I worried about my mom, I did not know the extent of the surgeries, how many she would get, and how she would be monitored? I figured though she was in good hands they had to keep parts of the show secret for a reason, right? A good reason, right? For the shock value and the ratings, right?
I went on with my life and one day while my mom was away and only allowed to call Sunday's I received a call from Aunt D, and my little sister was in a car accident. She was okay, but she needed to talk to our mom. Ironically a week later I was in a car accident, I was okay, but it was terrible to not have access to my mom right away.
As a mom now, I know the pit she felt in her stomach when her girls were in danger. The pit, the sick feeling is not a good feeling. My mom asked us both "Do you need me to come home? I will come home right now." We both told her no because we knew this journey and experience was important to her, having her little brother pass away tragically, romantic troubles and losing a job was why she went on the show to begin with; to build up her inner confidence again, to empower her to be the mom she always was to my sister and me.
This is why when watching the Vice T.V. (linked below) special the Dark Side of Reality Television The Swan. When the show focused on the ugly duckling part, the surgeries, and the unsafe conditions of getting back to the gym after two weeks of major plastic surgeries, I was triggered.
My mom is the strongest, smartest and the best woman I know! She has shaped her daughters to be independent, confident, strong and most of all to be beautiful on the inside. My mom is not an ugly duckling never was, that is what T.V. magic does it can make a person look terrible or beautiful.
So yes, my mom was on The Swan, but I want my readers to know she never an ugly duckling. She is my mom, and I am glad she got to tell her side of the story 20 years later. And maybe if The Swan comes back again, (we love our reality T.V.) the formula can be about empowering women from the inside and less focus on the outside.
Oh yeah and if it does come back let's keep the family members in loop a little bit better this time around.
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