No matter how you cut it, a Mom’s work is hard, plain and simple. I respect every mom for her chosen path. Some have to work; some choose to work to be better moms when they’re at home; some stay at home; some stay at home and homeschool; some stay at home, homeschool and bake their own bread (and for the record, I’m no pioneer. I am (most days) just barely a SAHM). It’s all challenging. All versions of the gig have their pitfalls. There was a time before Soren when I think I might have been under the assumption that this wasn’t a job. That if I could just stay at home with my kids, I would, you know, do nothing but eat bon-bons, put my feet up, have more time to do laundry and on the side, raise my kids. As it turns out, not the job description.

One of the scariest parts of this job are long days, trapped inside the house. On these days, I try to amp up the activity. I keep us real, real busy. Working really hard, hauling kids from place to place. But this morning, I took a different approach. Sure, there are no bon-bons and I only put my feet up from 8:30pm (kid’s bedtime) to 9:15pm (my bedtime) but I could embrace some “doing nothing”. Instead of a playdate at the park, I was the human jungle gym. Instead of running errands in the car, we did airplanes on the floor. Instead of teaching them their ABC’s, I taught Soren how to rub my shoulders (for which a grateful daughter-in-law will thank me one day). Didn’t do a stitch of laundry. It will be there tomorrow. It always is.

Some on-the-job injuries were sustained but all in all, I got to enjoy what I do today. I ought to explore the perks of the job more often: my only deadline is dinner, bath, bed. The only important call I need to make is on a Fischer Price telephone. The only spreadsheet in my life these days houses the addresses for our Christmas card mailing list. My uniform is sweats. And when I want to, I can just hang with these kids and do nothing.

It’s not always easy and there are days when I wonder what my career path is. My patience with The Management is tested time and time again. But then I get a Bonus Kiss, or my “bosses” say that they love me or my husband gives me a vacation day. I get to hang out with some fabulous people. Serious perks to this job.