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WHO AM I?

The key words in my vocabulary are “share”, “wait”, “love”, “say please”, and “Help me, Lord!”  I smell of play-dough, chocolate and soybeans.  My hair is styled by small, sticky hands each time I bend down far enough, long enough.  My social life revolves around ring-around-the-roses, tea parties, and sandboxes.  My major topic of conversation are potty training, ear infections, and Mr. Rogers.

Have you guessed yet?

I am committed to the unique, and according to some, absurd, idea of rearing my own children my own way.  Bucking the system that tells me to find fulfillment by punching a clock and fighting traffic.  Upsetting friends who return to work with the same casual attitude toward daycare they have when finding a vacation kennel for their poodles.  Daring to wear last year’s fashions for the privilege of being on hand for skinned knees and popped balloons.  Desperate enough to wash diapers for the joy of singing a baby to sleep at nap time.  Backwards enough to sacrifice ready-made baby food for the luxury of story time.  And satisfied enough to live without the extra paycheck in exchange for today’s special events.  Do you care to hear about them?

Today I kissed spaghetti-tasting tears away from a pudgy cheek.  Today I cried with my Jenny over a smashed butterfly.  Today I sang along with “Jesus wuvs me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”, knowing that by singing this chorus with my Elizabeth that God has fulfilled in me a work for which He created my life.  Today I thanked God for a sandy peanut butter sandwich at the park and asked myself, “Who would trade these moments for a desk, an office, a position that would induce envy and approval in so many in today’s world?”

Because small children thrive on love.  Babies die without it.  Mothers pay caregivers to simulate it.  No salaried position could substitute it.

So who am I?  One more clue:  Love is my profession.

Do you have it now?

I’m a Mother.

*This image is from the portfolio of David Castillo Dominici at Freedigitalphotos.net