When my son was born, I had no sense of sacrificing anything to stay at home with him. We had just moved across the country; I had already given up my job, said good-bye to our friends, relinquished my responsibilities. Whatever challenges I faced being a stay-at-home mom, missing the rest of my life wasn’t one of them.
Slowly, as my son got older, I begin to reassemble a life for myself apart from my son. I joined the church choir. My husband volunteered me to serve as the editor of the church newsletter, and I agreed. I wrote and co-directed the children’s Christmas pageant. (My son, not quite walking, was dressed as a sheep.) After my daughter was born, I also began writing. Writing has become so important to me, so much a part of my life, that my very understanding husband even agreed to enroll my daughter in an extra day of daycare last fall so that I had more time to work.
Writing takes a lot of time and solitude, which I do not have this summer while my son is out of school. For the first time I feel like I am sacrificing something to be home with him. I miss that other part of my life while I’m being a full-time mom. (Blogging is a consolation, but it’s not the same.)
Anyway, I’ve made up my mind to enjoy summer vacation with my kids. We’ll make lemonade.
Writer Katherine Paterson tells us: "Remember that those people in our lives that keep us from writing are also the ones that give us something to write about."
ReplyDelete