When I was a little girl, I used to dream about becoming a mom. It was every imaginary game I played and everything I thought about. However, now that I am older, I realize there is way more to it than just cute babies and tiny little baby shoes.
As I was growing up, I started to feel guilty about being happy with the idea of 'just being a mom.' I kept hearing people say that women can do so much more with their lives; that they could do something with more meaning-- something that would actually help the world. Sadly, the ways of the world started creeping into my head without my knowledge and I started to think that marriage and family was nice, but not enough. I needed to do something bigger. I needed something more. So I stopped thinking about my future house with my little brunette children and I started thinking about a career. Doctor, lawyer, business women there were so many options. After finding what interested me, I made a plan. I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go... and there was no baby in sight.
A year or two later, I started babysitting more than ever and it dawned on me: I hadn't thought about my future family in a long time. As I sat rocking a little baby girl to sleep, I just stared at her; I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was beautiful. She was making my heart melt like nothing ever had. Then I started a job as a nanny. I went home the first night and fell on my bed and tried to figure out why I felt so funny. My heart was happy and unhappy at the same time. After a few months on the job, I finally discovered what it was that had been bugging me for so long. I was in love. Not with a boy, but with a lifestyle. A way of life that was filled with laughter, tears, learning, and more love than I ever imagined. I knew then that everything that had crept into my mind was an absolute lie. How could creating a safe, warm, and loving place for a child to grow and develop be a bad thing? How could there be anything better?
The world talks about empowering women all of the time. It's on every magazine cover, news story, or any social media site. But I don't think they realize that what they are referring to as 'empowering' is actually the opposite. Ok, yes, women can do anything they set their minds to. We can be politicians, doctors, lawyers, or whatever the heck we want. But we were also fabricated in such a way that we need to love. And that goes for men too. Women were created with a gentleness that needs to be used and a maternal instinct that won't just go away because they never use it.
So to the girls out there that are like me, and would be perfectly fine with ending their careers to build a family and a home I will say this: don't apologize for wanting a perfectly original life. Don't make excuses for realizing that being a mom and a wife is the best and most rewarding job. And tell them they are wrong when they say there is a better career choice for you because you know what? There's not.
