But when it comes to being a mom, she’s like every other one.

“I don’t know if I’m really that good at it,” she said a few days before her three children were going to visit for Mother’s Day. “As a parent there were some things I would have done differently.”

Her stepson, Graham, is 26, a University of Washington graduate who works for Starbucks; her daughter, Abigail, is 22 majoring in art history at Seattle Central Community College; and her stepdaughter, Annie, is 20 and attends Spokane Community College. Berg’s been married to retired firefighter Grant Cragun for 15 years.

Berg is close to her kids. They have season tickets for Husky football games and often have tailgate parties. They went to a Marc Kohn concert at Woodland Park Zoo last summer.

“And we have Sunday dinners whenever we can,” she said.

But what really helps them keep in touch is their phones.

“I hate to say it but texting – they reach out – and ask for money,” she said with her ever-present smile.

Berg is a great role model for any woman who wants to have a family – and a successful career. It’s hard but it can be done.

One advantage for Berg is that her kids have often gone to the same schools where she was a teacher or administrator.

“I didn’t make it to every event like some parents, but I gave it a shot,” she said.

Her kids were involved in soccer, football and music. “The whole gambit,” she said, adding she also knew about events such as colored-hair day and dances. She said she has empathy for parents who don’t have inside knowledge on school events because social activities are so important to kids.

Berg admits she has no advice for getting kids to do homework. Her oldest always did it at the last minute. Her daughter, since the first grade, always did it herself, thinking her mom “knew nothing about academics at school.” And the youngest was a rebel about doing homework, but succeeded because she is a self-starter.

Berg said many families wish that could talk about any subject. Hers did that, but “Now I wonder if I wanted to know,” she said with a laugh.

She comes from a family of educators. Her dad, who is now 90, was on the school board and her mom was a librarian. But Berg didn’t know that’s what she wanted to do until she was a YMCA camp counselor one summer.

“I liked the difficult kids; those who are starkly different,” she said.

That might have something to do with her mom, who died a few years ago.

“We were champions for the underdog,” Berg said.

Kids who were in trouble with the law would stay at their house in Spokane. Students who were being bullied her mom would let hide in the library. Even pets that no one wanted lived with them.

“We were taught to accept and love anyone – not to judge,” Berg said.

She said her family wasn’t perfect, but she was “lucky, a Beaver Clever family.” Berg was raised in the “faith” and learned about strong work ethic. Her mom even went back to school at age 55.

Berg’s mom also told her she could do anything she wanted, not just the normal female jobs of a teacher or a nurse. If she wanted to stay home and be a mom that would be fine. But when they move out what will happen? It’s good to have choices, her mom said.

“I’m happy for that advice,” Berg said.

Berg has tried to raise her kids with those same values. “If you raise them right they will eventually end up there,” she said.

On her Twitter feed, the first thing on Berg’s resume is “mom.”

“I put it first because it’s a responsibility I take very much to heart,” she said. “It’s a role I’m seriously proud of.”

It has not been easy. Starting a blended family was at times hard.

“The new norms, and getting the parents on the same page was difficult,” she said.

But she enjoyed watching them all grow up, seeing them learn and develop personalities.

Now that they are adults, she thinks they are getting the better of her.

“They tease me a little bit, and I don’t know if I like it much,” she said. “They get me going and play me. I get hoodwinked by those three.”

As for what they think of their mom, she can only guess.

“I usually want things to be perfect, but they never are,” she said. “I like to laugh, joke and tease. And I’m crazy enough to think I had a hand in changing the world.”

Berg said the hardest thing about being a mom is not being able to help your kids when you want to.

“When they have a personal struggle, and you wish you could fix it, but you can’t,” she said. “You never lose that parent-child relationship.”

Berg said it’s tough to balance work and being a mom, but she’s been able to do it because she has a lot of energy. She was a cheerleader at Mead High School and was named “most spirited.”

Berg, 52, attended Eastern Washington for her bachelor’s and Western for her master’s degrees. She has taught in Renton and Enumclaw. She has been a school administrator in Bainbridge, Mead, Deer Park and now Marysville. And she’s been an adjunct professor for Eastern and Washington State.

But despite all that knowledge, she has learned that being a mom is not done by the book.

“When it’s translated from head knowledge to the heart, things go out the window. It gets jumbled. I don’t know much. I do the best I can,” she said.

While she’s always loved being a mom, she probably never appreciated it more than after the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School last fall.

“For the first seventy-two hours all I wanted to do was hold my kids,” she said. “That was medicine for the soul. And I had a profound sadness for the families who couldn’t do that.”