I love babies. I love daydreaming about what my life will be like once I have kids. I love everything about having a family someday so much that I am notorious for it among my friends. If I have the chance to browse the baby aisle of any department store, I will do it. If there are pictures on Facebook of someone’s new baby I will scroll through each and every one. And honestly, I feel more inclined to say “aww” to a baby in a stroller passing by than I am to a puppy. Sorry not sorry.

My friends and family know this about me, and know it well. I get tagged in Instagram photos about babies or families almost daily, and I used to have no problem talking about my Pinterest board dedicated to cute photos of photogenic babies. Not until I came to college.

The people closest to me get it. The respect my daydreams and are happy to indulge with my retelling of an adorable baby I saw earlier that day. But I remember specifically a time my freshman year when someone who barely knew me said some pretty offensive things about my aspirations to be a mom someday. I won’t repeat it exactly, but just know it was something along the lines of “I guess it’s just becoming more and more clear who’s just here to get their MRS degree”. Maybe it was meant to be funny and perhaps they weren’t trying to make anything of it, but it did get me thinking. Why is this area such a subject of ridicule? Why can’t I, a woman, talk about how excited I am to have a family of my own someday? No, I am not at college to find a husband and get engaged by the end of senior year, and no I’m definitely not the type to depend on anyone let alone my husband to get me through life. What the person didn’t know about me when they said that is that I plan on absolutely rocking every thing that comes my way and killing my career, day in and day out. But I know deep in my heart that when the time comes, I want to dedicate myself to my family because I believe it to be the most rewarding job in the world.

I value everything I am learning in school and know that my college degree will be one of my greatest accomplishments of life, and I am not diminishing that by simply knowing that I will be a mom one day and look forward to all of the great challenges and rewards that will come with it. I’ve known since I was a little girl that no matter where I go or what I do, being a wife and a mother will be one of the most amazing experiences I could ever have.

I am so tired of hearing people judge, especially women to women, the desire to have a family. Why do we have to choose between being a girlboss and being a mom? And why does it matter to other people? I want to be the woman that slays in the workplace in the morning but commands a PTA meeting in the evening. It’s time to stop judging each individual’s wants in life as if they’re lesser than yours. Above all else, the goal in life to be happy doing what makes you happy, and no matter what way you choose to achieve that, you shouldn’t feel any remorse or guilt.