What I want to be when I grow up.

Last night Owen and Caroline were sitting at the table eating dinner and Dan overheard this conversation.

Caroline: Owen, what do you want to be when you grow up? Do you want to be a computer man or a doctor?
Owen: No, I just want to be Batman.



I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe it's because Owen will be in Kindergarten all day next year and soon enough Katie will be heading there too. I was driving by the local farm stand the other day and noticed a help wanted sign. I thought, "what a fun job that would be!" I could work at the farm while the kids were at school. But I'm not sure it wouldn't get old. For a while I thought I would like to be a teacher. Then I realized that I don't like other kids nearly as much as my own. I tried my hand at studying to be a Veterinary Technician, but Owen decided to make an appearance before I could get into that very much. I have a habit of trying things out for a while (sometimes at great cost) and then deciding I don't want to do them. It was all I could do to get my degree in Anthropology. Even that decision was made only because I enjoyed those classes the most.

I wish I could find someone to write up a stay-at-home Mom resume for me... more than that, I wish I could find a company that would look at it seriously, and let me make my own hours and work from home and not sell stuff. :)

After spending 4 years at college, then 2 years working, then another semester back at college to get my degree, I find many of my strengths don't even stem from what I learned there. In fact, I envision the strengths/education portion of my stay-at-home mom resume going something like this...

The ability to get multiple children and spouse out of the house in a relatively short amount of time, while they fight you and dilly dally the whole way. You'd be a lot more impressed by this one if you could witness my husband's ritual leaving a house.

The ability to be prepared for any situation that may arise, and to pull the supplies for said situation out of an impressively small purse. Remember the game show Let's Make a Deal? At the end of each show the host would pick random items and see if anyone could find them in their purses, etc. Seriously, if I could get into the audience of Let's Make A Deal these days, I'd have every single thing that man wanted!

The ability to put a slippery diaper on a baby, multiple times a day, while she kicks and screams and rolls over and crawls away. Wrestling alligators?? Nothing compared to this!

Incredible reflexes. After a few false starts with Owen rolling off the bed (give me a break, he was the first!), I've managed to keep both children relatively safe and unbroken.

The ability to fairly referee arguments without taking sides and keep both parties happy.

The ability to clean disgusting things, most of them involving poop, without getting grossed out. (unless they come from the cats, Dan handles the cats)

The ability to survive on one income in this day and age. It's been over a year now since I've had a full-time job and somehow we've squeezed by. I don't even consider myself that good at budgeting, but I try and we manage to pay the bills on time and still eat. Which brings me to the next one.

The ability to maintain an extreme amount of faith. I think this one was probable drilled into my by my Mom. "Everything happens for a reason" and "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." Regardless of what happens I maintain faith that it will all work out. This is another one that I'm not necessarily great at, but aside from some tears shed (what else is new) and a bad week here and there, I think we've managed okay.

Most importantly, the ability to change and accept change much better than I used to. Some people may disagree with that, but I used to be really bad at dealing with change. Now I'm only slightly bad at it.

You know, maybe I don't need this resume thing after all. I guess all I really have to do is look at what I have, a great Husband, two beautiful children, a roof over our heads and food to eat, and I realize that I really am blessed. Maybe I've found what I want to be when I grow up after all.