And so it begins...

On the way to summer kinder camp this morning, my 5-year old daughter asks me, “Mommy, can I be more than one thing when I grow up?”

“Of course!” I say, enchanted that she’s thinking beyond the traditional preschool lecture on work. You know, the ‘ I want to be a teacher when I grow up.’ (Please, teachers take no offense; I was one myself awhile back.)

“I can be 10-things?” she pursues.

“Yep,” I nod, searching for a kid friendly tune on the radio.

Then quiet, though I’m guessing that the conversation is not over. If I listen closely enough, I can hear the wheels churning (and not the car wheels). A “but…” is rising in her consciousness.

“So how can I be 10-things mama when you’re only 1 thing?”

Oh no. I don’t want to ask. I ask anyway, “What one thing am I?”

“You’re just a Mommy,” she declares.

And just then the radio stops on, ‘Life is a highway. I want to drive it all night long…’ My 4-year old son shouts, “Turn it up Mommy!” and I realize that the teaching moment is lost to Lightening McQueen’s theme song.

So I proceed to sing aloud with the giggles from the backseat on our way to summer kinder camp all the while asking the questions that urged me to finally dive into the mommy blog universe. Because I know I am not the only woman to ask how the hell her 42 years of work experiences and pursuits distill into one singular identity of mother? Is this my fault? In my efforts to be a “good mother” have I forgotten to show them other aspects of “me” or “work”? Is this a wake up call to start? Then again, what meaningful work other than mothering do I want to model?

The pursuit begins. Momma needs work.