Profession: mommy

In the age of multi-tasking, I enjoy one single, all-consuming task – being a “mommy.”

There. I said it. You can go ahead and judge me. I’m not ambitious. I’m not bright enough to have a career. I’m taking women back to 40 years ago when they were deprived of their drive and ambition.

Say it. I won’t listen. I’m too busy watching “The Wiggles” and wiping up applesauce off the floor.

I’m one of the lucky few who is in a position to stay home and devote myself entirely – and, as all parents know, it is entirely – to being mommy to my pre-teen and toddler daughters.

What does it say about me that I find complete fulfillment in this? I don’t have time to think about that. I have a diaper to change, a bath to administer, a tantrum to squash. I have a beautiful day ahead of me. A beautiful, simple day.

Some may question my use of the term “simple” when it comes to childrearing. There’s nothing simple about it. It’s sloppy, loud, exhausting, joyous, precious, constant and sticky. It’s hard work. So let me clarify my definition of “simple” in this context.

I focus on the same thing all day long.

I’m not tugged and twisted in a thousand conflicting directions. It’s focused concentration on a single roller coaster of a task. That’s really all I want. Not because I don’t have skills, ambition and some whopping good ideas, but because it’s what my heart craves. It’s that simple. I don’t need a palm pilot to tell me that.

It’s a tricky time for women. We have choices. Career tracks, fast tracks, promotions. Marriage? Travel? Children? Feminism took us from limited to limitless. That’s fantastic.

So here’s my choice: SIMPLICITY. Can I choose that? Is that still on my list of options?

Many a career woman friend has told me of their longing to simply take their children to the park in the middle of the day. Without asking permission from anyone. Without rushing home to make a conference call. I know few people who ever feel justified in demanding this right.

Maybe we need a new revolution for that.

That isn’t to say that all women should stay home with their children. This is a personal choice. But at what point in this great struggle for women’s rights did women lose the right to singular vision? When did personal power become about fitting into the corporate agenda?

Before feminism came along, the world boxed women into the house. It’s amazing to think of the end result of the feminist struggle. The front door opened and we stormed out, ready to prove ourselves as bright, strong and worthy.

Now, if a woman chooses to return to the house, some see that as retreating. Simplicity is seen as laziness. If we aren’t multi-tasking, it’s because we’re too simple-minded to do so.

Well, I’m here to say that happiness comes from the total immersion in one very special thing. For me, right now, that’s motherhood. What does that say about me? Quite simply, it means I’m part of the great feminist tradition of self-fulfillment.

There. I said it.