JUST a mommy

At Sunday school a couple of weeks ago, my daughter Rachel was sitting with her peers.

After doing their "thankful' prayers to Jesus, somehow the topic of what their parents do came up. Some of the kids had parents who were professionals, others did blue collar jobs, etc. Most of them had mothers that worked.

Then my daughter says, quite loudly, "My mommy is JUST a mommy!". No mention of anything else.

At first, I was taken back. Surprise would best describe my initial feeling. Then after came curiosity if I could "be more" than just a mommy. I do have a Masters' Degree. I do sometimes miss working (sometimes I even calculate in my head how much I would be earning if motherhood was an actual paying job - my estimate is at 160K a year!!!!). I miss the intellectual challenge. Yes, I do have days like that.

On the other hand, do you know what happened after my thoughts had completed? I saw her giving me this huge, beaming smile. Unreal smile with those big brown eyes and long eyelashes. 

My hearing loss didn't matter to her, my degree didn't matter to her, everything else was moot. All she was focusing on was that I was always there for her.

It was then that I realized that being just a mommy was all that I had hoped for. There was the recognition in that singular smile. I am very fortunate that I'm financially able to stay at home with my girls, and to be able to appreciate these little years.

Exhaustion after a long day flying from Orlando! 

Stay at home moms, working moms, work from home moms, foster moms, moms who have adopted children, teachers who are like moms, aunts who are like moms, grandmothers,  whatever the role is - there is so much beauty in having young children share their love (and challenges) with you.