Times and Seasons redux

Kazzy

Times and Seasons redux

Twenty years ago I was celebrating my first anniversary with my sweet husband and was pregnant with my first child.  I had graduated from BYU with a degree in education the summer of 1987 and was looking forward to my second year of teaching fifth grade in a nearby city.  Life was full of firsts.  Things were very very good.  As the school year started I began to reconsider teaching this second year.  My baby was due in the fall and my husband and I both knew that going the distance until Memorial Day was unlikely.  I wanted nothing more than to be home with my new baby and to become my own version of June Cleaver.  I got my wish, quitting in December.  I have been one of the lucky ones, not just because I got to stay home with that little one, and three additional children, but because I wanted to AND I got to.  Every mom is different, but for me it was my deepest desire, even a craving, to spend my time at home with my kids.  I am grateful to a good husband who supported me in this goal.  

Two years ago that very first baby of mine graduated from high school and left to attend BYU.  He moved into his own apartment and took care of himself, except for some of the monetary things (and I am assuming the bathroom was on its own too).  So after talking it over with my husband I decided it was a good time to go back to work and make some extra money to facilitate my son's moving out (which can also be interpreted as:  "More money, more food in the fridge, more peace and quiet, more of our own time on the couch, etc").  Of course, we missed him, but we knew this was the way of things. People grow up and move on.  So after years of wiping noses, chasing after little ones, and disciplining, I was ready to be a career person again.  I was ready to be dignified.  

I work in special ed.  What did I do today?  I cleaned B's runny green nose, I chased G down the hall as he ran away laughing at me, and I crawled on my stomach, in my nice new white Christopher and Banks shirt, under the door of the bathroom stall to pull N out.  Yes, I am a dignified career person.  And I love every minute of it.