I have learned a few things in my last 18 years of life, and one of them is that people will never stop asking you what you are passionate about. This is a question I have spent years grappling with and turning over in my hands trying to find a direct answer to. Sometimes it was biology or achieving straight A's, or ski racing and being fit. Somedays, I was simply passionate about the cheese quesadilla that I had for lunch or the shopping spree I was taking that weekend. Not one of those answers felt like the perfect fit to the almighty question, "What are you passionate about?"

Suddenly, big decisions and changes flooded my world: I fell in love with my best friend, decided to study physical therapy, and travel four hours from home to the city of Boston to pursue my degree at a small women's-centered college. I have never learned quite so much about myself, my dreams and my goals as I have throughout the adventures that I have encountered lately, and I believe that now I can truly answer the question, "What are you passionate about?"

The answer: Being a mom.

I am the stereotypical teenage girl who sighs and smiles at the twins wearing matching sun hats being pushed down the sidewalk in a stroller. I am enthusiastic about the craft projects and the children's books sprinkled throughout my college job. I am always yearning for home and for my own family, to be surrounded by them at the dinner table sharing stories about our day. I have had a great role model all through my life to show me what an outstanding mother looks like, and I someday hope to have the relationship with my daughter that my mother and I have.

Being in love with your best friend makes it easy to picture a future with a blue house and a vegetable garden. I want to share how incredible this person is with our children because they deserve to know all of the good that this world has to offer them.

I do not want to miss my daughter taking her first steps or my son scoring his first touchdown. I want to be able to to tell my children that I am proud of them every single day. I want to sit at the kitchen table surrounded by bowls of candy and icing making gingerbread houses. I want to plan elaborate birthday parties and take impromptu beach trips.

Yet, for some reason setting my goal to be a mother is seen as "unambitious" or in some way forced upon me by society as my "duty" as a woman, or perhaps forced upon me by a man who believes it is his "duty" to earn the money. In reality, this is my passion, and I should never have to feel that my passion is less than someone else's dream. No one should have to feel this way. I view creating a family as something beautiful and challenging; just as inspiring and fulfilling as any promotion or salary raise. While I do ultimately aim to become a mother and a caregiver, I also have a career goal of becoming a pediatric physical therapist, with the intentions of always putting my family first. I believe that with recent motions away from the traditional role of women as caregivers, comes the expectation that, for so long, women have been oppressed by having to care for their families, and that no woman actually wants to be just a mother. This creates a negativity surrounding motherhood and particularly stay-at-home moms. In reality, not all women want to climb the corporate ladder or "bring home the bacon," and the same goes for men. Instead of spiraling into this negativity and gender stereotyping, women need to be encouraged to follow their passion, regardless of what it is. It may be writing for the New York Times, or working in a beauty salon, or working as the leading trauma surgeon in a hospital. Or it may be painting a nursery, serving dino nuggets and reading bedtime stories, or maybe it's a combination of both. Whatever it may be, a woman's passion to be a mother should never be dismissed as unambitious.

I am passionate about being a mother and that is not a bad thing. My goal does not make me unaspiring or simple. Pursuing this goal makes me strong and courageous.