MY mommy

I'm a working mom, and I still feel conflicted about it. It seems I missing out on the "best years" of my child's life while I while away the hours working at a job that isn't directly correlated to my passions in life (namely, my family, music and the outdoors). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job, but sometimes I am anti-business, meaning that I just plain don't like business, profit, commercialism, etc. I don't need to get rich and don't understand other people who want to be rich; it seems to me that's a recipe for someone else not having enough. But I will ramble on about that in another post.

It’s especially hard for me to go to work each day when I say, “It’s time to go to daycare,” and Caden, my 2 year old, whines, “Nooo. No like it.” But we barrel through, and by the time we get there, after a hug, kiss and “I love you,” he’s happy to play with his friends.

The happy surprise comes at the end of the day, when I walk in to pick him up. He jumps up, yells “MY mommy!!” and runs to the top of the stairs to greet me, as if no other mommy will do. He sounds so proud to have me as his mother. I know this will change in the teen years, but having this special place in his life is what keeps me going through the potty training accidents (how exactly do you take off Elmo underwear that is full of wet, heavy poop without getting it all over him from the waist down?), the temper tantrums, the occasional lack of sleep, and the hours spent doing things that only Caden wants to do – over and over again.