I thanked him today…

I am sure you heard the famous question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Ever asked your kids what they want to be when they grow up?

I hated that question when I was a child. Thank God my parents were sensible enough to never ask me that.

But I still remember when a teacher in 2nd grade asked me that question for the first time in my life. I remember I answered: I don’t know….and then she said: You must know what you wish to be….and I thought hard for probably good 10 seconds and then said: How can I know? Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? And that was when the whole class burst in laughter.
Interestingly despite my extremely sensitive nature, I did not feel embarrassed….just surprised at my teacher's reaction. Because she did not laugh. She just looked at me and said: don’t you know I am already grown up?…….Truly in my eyes that silly question could have come only from a silly kid!

How can anyone know what they want to be tomorrow morning… let alone years down the road? We might know what we will do and what job we will fulfill tomorrow because we have to, but we might change our desires as well even if we HAVE to do what we are doing…at least for the time being…

Don’t get me wrong I understand the lesson behind the question: to create a desire, to give wings to imagination….

But really is that what adults do when they ask that question. Seriously if the child answers: I want to be a garbage man, what are we going to do…. ???
At least from where I came from all the answers were trimmed to be a doctor or an engineer….

Today I remembered something that happened during one of my case taking few years ago. The patient was a little 5 years old girl and the mother told her to tell me what she wants to be when she grows up? The little girl told me: “I want to be a mom and a wife” ... the mother replied immediately with no hesitation: “Yes, but you can be so much more. Didn’t you tell me the other day you want to be a police woman?”

I know many people would give that answer: “Yes, but you can be so much more.”….myself included was one of those people. I used to think that a girl can be a wife, she can be a mommy, too, but she can also be a writer or an artist or a lawyer or a banker or a politician or a nurse or a doctor as well if that's what she wants…

Today though, I think “why?”
Why should be such a mind set in our society?

Is this strange standard the result of the feminist movement because of the repression of females in all societies? Maybe…but if that is the case, shouldn’t we; the women, start breaking any new rules that is being imposed on us, this time by our fears??

If a girl tells us she wants to be a writer or a lawyer, do we reply back: "yes you can be those but also you can be a mother"?
Why there is such a double standard?

Motherhood is not a job…Period, no but or and…..Motherhood is a state of being and if a woman chooses to be that, she can dedicate her entire day and night to fulfill that state of being and if she chooses or needs to, she can do other things aside that…that is her choice…or the reality of life that she has to do other things to be able to make a life for herself and her family….

All I'm thinking is being a mommy is huge. It's perhaps the biggest thing a woman ever be, and to many, many, many people -- perhaps even herself one day -- it won't be enough.

The reality is that anything that we love to do, should never be “not enough”….

I am a mother, first and last and all in between.

Anyone that knows me, know that I love, love, love homeopathy and I am very good at it. I have been told many times by many different people that I have a gift in me for homeopathy…but since my son was born, I gladly cut my hours of practice significantly and lately I am thinking seriously of closing my practice altogether…

Maybe one day I choose to walk in another path, one equally less walked in like homeopathy.

Maybe all these thoughts are because of my personality: when I am so “in love” and “passionate” about something, I put myself in it full body and soul.

I don’t know (and really I don’t care) what is the reason for these thoughts. The reality is that I “just” want to be a mom…that is all I want, that is all I wish for, being “just” “mom” is more than fulfilling for this life time and possibly many more to come!

Today is mother’s day. Not that really anyone can forget it thanks to all the commercials and sales pitch…

It is my second mother’s day – third actually counting the one that my baby was in me (the best one of all)…

I can not say I do not love the day. I love it but truly not because of the celebration or the gift. Let’s face it, regardless of what day of the year it is, the duties do not get less for the duration of 24 hours. So it is not really a holiday. At least not when you have a baby or a toddler….

I like the day because it makes me celebrate what I love the most to be in this world: “A mother”.

When a baby is born, so does a mother. That can be a cherished blessing or not a cherished one. Either way I believe it is a blessing, both for the baby and the mother.

This morning when I woke up with my favorite alarm clock, my son’s voice calling “Mamma”, I went to him and went through all the routine of hug and kisses, word games and name calling – he likes to repeat his encyclopedia of knowledge first thing in the morning, as if reminding me or himself or both, how much he knows already.

And let’s face it for a toddler there is nothing worse than braking his routine. So after all the routine… I sat him on my lap and thanked him. I thanked him for becoming my boy and made me a mother.

I really do think today when a child celebrates his/her mother, a mother should also celebrate the reason that she is a mother…and that of course is the child. Because let’s face it we are who we are because of them…..

So thank you my boy. I deeply thank your dear sweet soul for choosing me to be your mother. I love the role more than life itself…it makes my small life bigger than all the galaxies.

I love you and all you bring me….yesterday, today and forever.