This morning on our daily walk with my kids, my rambunctious, but ever so sweet, 18-month-old son bent over to smell the flowers in a neighbor's garden. How special is that? I can hardly get his shoes on without him wiggling away, but he stops every single day, to smell the flowers. I am reminded how much I love these kiddos and how grateful I am I get to stop and "smell the roses" with them each and every day.
Mommy. I have never been so grateful or proud of a title. Mommy. That means I am the one, day in and day out, who gets to share their laughter and smiles, hold them, and even wipe their snot when they're sick. I am the one who wakes up in the middle of the night to scare away the monsters or hold hair back when the stomach bug has infiltrated the house. My voice is the first good morning and the last whisper in their ears every night when they lay their sweet heads down. When my daughter falls trying out a new bike and she is crying my name, it hurts my insides to see her in any pain, but I know her eyes are searching for the only person who can make her feel better, and that's me. Not just anyone willing to offer comfort- but me- Mommy.
You see, growing up, I volunteered in a local family run day care and I witnessed first-hand what can happen. Each night it was one of two options for the vast majority of the kids: Option one - kids were so attached to having fun at the day care and the people who worked there it was impossible to get them to go home without a kicking, screaming, yelling match on both ends. Or worse, option two - the parents arrived so stressed, tired, or busy they hardly noticed their child was waiting with outstretched arms to be embraced in a giant hug only Mommy or Daddy could give. I was only 10 when I started playing with these kids, but even then it broke my heart. Perhaps I am of a different mindset, I mean I knew from day one that I wanted to be a mom more than anything in the world. I can't imagine a world where someone else had these memories with my kids - where someone else had their heart. I am my kids' mom and that means the world to me.
Thank you Dr Laura, for your encouragement to be a stay-at-home mom! There is not another job in the world that could compare to these faces, snot and all!
Jessica
