A Mom's Balancing Act: Dessert Shop and Family
Teri Ponticello moved to Arizona from New Jersey with her family last summer to find 115-degree temperatures and no Italian-ice shops. “We were dying!” Ponticello said.
That December, she and husband Gordon opened Teri’s Italian Ice in Ahwatukee. On most days, the couple are in the shop by 9:30 a.m., and they don’t close until 9:30 p.m., making their free time precious. Teri, a 43-year-old mother of two, is adept at juggling family, household and work.
Q: How do you and your husband make time for each other?
A: After the couple close the shop on weekends, they go out to dinner. They also eat breakfast together. Their favorite thing: taking a nighttime swim and looking at the stars. “It’s these little things in life that we appreciate more now that our free time is so limited,” Teri said.
Q: How do you fit in fun with friends?
A.: The Ponticellos share a tradition with their dearest friends. About once a month, they invite the friends to the shop. They put candles and a “reserved” sign on a back table and order in food. If customers come in, the Ponticellos jump up to serve them. “Our friends are very important to us,” Teri said. “When you start a new business, you have to be 100 percent dedicated if you want it to succeed, but it’s important to remember what life was like before this.”
Q: Your daughter, Danielle, just turned 20, and your son, Michael, is 18. Did balancing life get easier as they got older?
“Actually, balancing teenagers is harder,” Ponticello said. “They’re much more independent now. It’s not so much that you can pick up your 4-year-old, pop him in the car seat and go wherever. They have their own friends, their own goals, their own plans and their own dreams. You have to appreciate their independence . . . but at the same time, Mom and Dad need to do this and that. So how do we compromise? It’s a big balancing act, and you just try your best to be there for them.”
Photo from Wikipedia.
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