Wife, Mother, Teacher, Rock Star
David has been working with a client who provided us with two free tickets to the Dallas premiere of Iron Man. It was quite the “rock star” evening for us. We met some of David’s coworkers at a pub, shared some drinks and then hit the theater for the show. It was so nice to use my “tiny” purse – you know, the purse you only use for going out in the evening. The purse that cannot possibly fit diapers, wipes, sippy cups, toys, snacks or sundry baby items.
I spent ten years working in online media prior to becoming a mother. Once Lucy was born it became very evident, very quickly that David and I BOTH could not work in that industry and be parents. I tried to juggle both and felt like I was failing or more accurately drowning. I quit and I’ve never regretted the decision. However, that does not mean I don’t miss it. It was so wonderful to be around all those creative people again and to be a part of that world, even for an evening.
I think as women we do such a disservice to each other by trying to put motherhood in a tiny, defined box. I know many women are completely content at home with their kids and some feel they are better mothers for working. For me, it is a combination of both. I need time to be creative, to use my mind for other things. When I take those breaks and come back to motherhood I am more patient, more energized and have better ideas. I wish as women we could all be more honest about that. We assume that only men define themselves by their careers, but in reality women do too. We define ourselves by the multitude of roles we play. And for me that is Wife, Mother, Teacher and last night it was Rock Star.
Introducing
Those Were The Days
David and I like to take the kids to the mall at night. It allows us the opportunity to look at a bunch of stuff we can’t afford and the kids get to run around and burn off energy. Not to mention it allows us to act as natural birth control to all those hormonal teenagers. They take one look at us and think “Oh, I don’t want to have kids – really.” On a recent visit we explored a new toy store. The kids found the new updated version of the View Master and David and I couldn’t resist saying yes to the purchase. We both fondly remembered traveling to distant places and the wonder and beauty of the View Master slides. Knowing that my mother never throws away anything that we might have even touched as a child I called her to see if she had our old View Master slides. Indeed she did, and being a good Grandma she overnight expressed them to our house from Michigan because the thought of her grandkids existing even one day without those slides was disastrous. Not to mention the joy of knowing that her own child actually WANTED one of their old toys back resulted in urgent and panic filled packaging.
Well, the package arrived yesterday and my mother did not disappoint. Not only did she mail me our original two View Masters, but the boxes and about 150 View Master slides. I have to admit that I think David and I enjoyed this package more than the kids. We stayed up until 11:00 last night looking at slides of the Las Vegas Strip in 1968 (The Flamingo? Circus Circus?), The Hoover Dam, The Partrdige Family, Happy Days, Shazam, The Banana Splits, The Apollo 11 project and endless numbers of space slides. They were awesome. They completely transported me back to my childhood and this morning I haven’t decided if I’m actually going to share them with the kids.
