End of the school year means recitals, the close of baseball season, award ceremonies, and this year a baptism all of these things happen in the next two weeks, so we’ll be crazy busy, but this past week wasn’t busy at all which was good, since I’ve been fighting a virus all week.
Since today is Mother’s Day, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on the women in my life that have helped me become the mom I am. My own mother, obviously. She taught me the love of reading and instilled in me the value of motherhood and children. This may seem so simple, but in a world where more and more people are choosing to wait or forego a family, it was an absolutely imperative lesson for me to learn from her own sacrifices and emphasis she made as her role as our mother. Throughout my life, other women have stepped in and shown me how to love, nurture, serve, and teach. From women who were my teachers at church and at school, to women I worked with as a teacher, then on to women who I served with in the church when I became an adult. When I married Andy, I also gained a mother and when we had children of our own, she became a wonderful grandmother to our kids. All of these examples have shown me the value of a woman. Our world tends to measure success by the amount of money we make or the recognition we receive. A mother generally receives neither, and yet, her work should be held in the upmost esteem. I saw first hand when I was a teacher, that when a mother was present and invested in the child’s life, their child excelled. When the child rarely saw the mother or was neglected by their mother, their self-esteem, their work ethic, and their drive for life significantly suffered. I did my student teaching at one of the “roughest” middle schools in Houston. The kids rarely had one parent a part of their life, often leaving the single parent they did have to have to work double just to make ends meet, which led these kids to a life unsupervised, a life without a consistent, nurturing, role model. They bragged about their baby daddies at the young age of 13. They worried for their safety as gang fights broke out throughout the day in the school. Meanwhile, my own sister was the same age at the time. She was so innocent. She was doing great in school and on the path that would lead her to being a successful adult and eventually a loving mother. The value of a woman may not hold up in the corporate world, but it should. It should be a crucial talking point in politics about ways to support women who choose this path. I am grateful for the gift my husband has given me to be able to be a stay-at-home mom. We had to pinch pennies during several years in our marriage, but it has been worth it. I’m so grateful that even with Andy’s strenuous training and deployments, our kids have had someone present and steady and I know that it is a joint effort. The sacrifice on both our parts has been worth it. I will never take that for granted. I’m in a new stage of motherhood and I’m adjusting. It is weird not having babies to care for. It is an adjustment to having my kids at school all day, but I’m finding that despite the slower pace during the earlier day hours, as the kids get older, the afternoon schedule is getting more and more busy. I thought that I’d have so much time during the day while they were at school, but keeping up the house, volunteer work, and writing has filled my mornings so that by the time I’ve done the basics in those areas, they are home. Even if I get my book published, I will still declare that the greatest thing I’ve ever done was bring these four beautiful kids into this world.
