my real job

first off, i'd like to welcome myself back to blogging! yay! i have really missed it...have you missed us? we were all kind of off in reality, being stay at-home moms...you know the drill.

2 of my girlies got to spend an extended weekend with a beloved aunt, and last night was officially "pass-off" night...we both drove 2 1/2 hours to meet up in a kansas walmart so i could get my flesh and blood back in my possession. gee, i missed them! they are always so cute, but i love how cute they are when i haven't seen them in a while :)

while the girls promptly fell asleep in the back of the minivan--which, by the way, i love. you should get a minivan--i had the pleasure of listening to a cd of cherished songs from my childhood. i just let it play over and over and over...and i got to think over and over and over. it.was.great.

several of the songs are little children, singing about their mothers. they sing about mother watching over them while they sleep. they sing about their mother telling sweet stories. they sing about their mothers holding them. about a mother's smile, a mother's prayer, a mother's love.

it dawned on me as i listened to these sweet baby voices, that the real job of a mother is all of those things...it is to nurture and grow and love and teach these incredible little people in our care. so often we (and i mean me, i assume it's you too?) think of a mom's job as laundry and dishes and diapers and cleaning windows. and i guess that's part of it...i mean, i do think it is my responsibility to provide a clean environment for my children, to feed them and wash their clothes. but in all honesty, those are really caregiver jobs, the sort of stuff that can be done by any parent, any family member, any hired helper.

the real stuff of motherhood is often just as messy as oatmeal and yogurt smeared all over the kitchen table, even when it's less visible. our real job is to make sure that when our children think of "mother", they think of the time we spent with them. they think of the things we taught them. they think of our love, our smile...

today i need to mop my kitchen floor and put away about 17 loads of laundry. but then, i will have some snuggle time with my baby girl. i will have a meaningful and humorous conversation with my 11 year-old. i will listen intently to the important events in the life of a popular 2nd grader. i will hold the hand of my oldest daughter while she says her prayers. i will welcome the shower of kisses from an affectionate kindergarten boy.

because that is my real job...