Just a Mom?

Since deciding to forgo full time work to stay at home with my kids, I have always dreaded the question, "what do you do?" I always felt like I had to list off my credentials. Explain that I haven't always been just a mom--I am college educated, I did do something before this! But why? Why do I feel like I have to explain myself? Why isn't it okay to be just a mom? Being a mom is the hardest job there is, there is no denying that. And, I have recently realized, that is why so many women, frankly suck at it. Any woman can have a baby; any woman can be a mother; but not any woman can be a mom, a good mom, just a mom. It takes hard work, long, arduous hours, no paid vacations, no bonuses, hell, there's no pay at all! Is that why we feel that it does not hold value, that it isn't a "real" job because there's is no time card to punch, no pay day? We have to reevaluate our thinking on what pay is. No a mom doesn't earn any money, but she does earn a big sloppy kiss from a happy toddler, a teary eyed, "I love you" from a timid kindergartner, the joy of witnessing the first word, the first step, the first soccer game. These things are worth a lot more than a week's worth of work at any job I've ever had. And, no, I'm not trying to give you Hallmark-card warm fuzzies here, sometimes the pay downright sucks. Sometimes you feel like nobody appreciates you and you just want to quit! But, you can't, so you keep working, until you get it right and you hit your stride once again and remember that you are doing the toughest job there is, and you don't suck at it. So, the next time somebody asks me, "what do you do?", I will hold my head high, throw back my shoulders, and say with all the pride that only a mom can feel, I am just a mom.