I am Mother, Hear Me Roar

"You're doing a great work."

While Jack and I were at the mall today, an elderly gentleman stopped us and said this to me.  I wasn't doing anything particularly special.  Jack was in the baby carrier and we were just walking towards the store I needed to visit.  But I was very touched that this man recognized me as a mother and acknowledged the work I do to raise Jack.

While I can't now imagine making any other choice, it was a difficult decision for me at the time to leave my career to stay home with Jack.  I loved being a teacher, and I like to think I was pretty good at it.

Now, though, that I have spent the past seven months with my baby, I am so so glad that I made the choice I did.  I miss teaching.  A whole lot.  But to miss everything I get to see Jack do every day, crawling and babbling and finally sitting up?  That would be unbearable.

I'm very blessed that I even get to stay home with Jack each day.  Some mothers don't have that luxury.  That doesn't make them bad moms.  I know that those moms love their kids just as much as I love Jack.

Being a mother is work.  But that man at the mall was right.  It's a great work.  Every mother that loves her child, no matter what her situation, is doing a great work.

Whew!  Heavy stuff!  But I was touched, and I've been trying harder to be appreciative of those moments.  So there you go.  Go moms!