Background: I've been trying to decide whether to go to grad school, and begin a career for myself, knowing that we are completely open to getting pregnant whenever that happens. I've been wrestling a lot with that and the many tangents associated with that kind of decision. It is strictly personal, so please don't be offended by my phrasing, i just thought that other women might identify with this...Here is my somewhat wrenching decision...and thank you to whomever replied with this poem on another thread I started!
God be with the mother.
As she carried her child,
may she carry her soul.
As her child was born,
may she give birth and life and form to her own, higher truth.
As she nourished and protected her child, may she nourish and protect her inner life and her independence.
For her soul shall be her most painful birth, her most difficult child, ...and the dearest sister to her other children.
- Micheal Leunig (australian philospher/cartoonist extraodinaire)
I just hope it will be worth it. That someday, I won't regret that I did not spend 100% of our baby's first year or two 100% at home with her. That I will be glad, we will all be glad, that I was both a student and a mother. That someday our baby will understand why I had to do this...that being a mother could only be one of my roles, even if it is my defining one. That I love him very much, but I could not stop being all of myself, even for hm. That I joyfully and gratefully include "mother" in my life's resume, but for me, it could not be everything. That he will grow up to respect women who work, who value their worth beyond their home, too. That someday, she will tell me that she understands my reasoning as she makes her own decision about how to be a woman in this world. And that if there are things that I didn't do because of it...homeschool, or breastfeed until age 2 +, or do full time elimination communication, or not vaccinate...I did the best that I could for our family at the time. I just hope it will all be worth it.
- me
God be with the mother.
As she carried her child,
may she carry her soul.
As her child was born,
may she give birth and life and form to her own, higher truth.
As she nourished and protected her child, may she nourish and protect her inner life and her independence.
For her soul shall be her most painful birth, her most difficult child, ...and the dearest sister to her other children.
- Micheal Leunig (australian philospher/cartoonist extraodinaire)
I just hope it will be worth it. That someday, I won't regret that I did not spend 100% of our baby's first year or two 100% at home with her. That I will be glad, we will all be glad, that I was both a student and a mother. That someday our baby will understand why I had to do this...that being a mother could only be one of my roles, even if it is my defining one. That I love him very much, but I could not stop being all of myself, even for hm. That I joyfully and gratefully include "mother" in my life's resume, but for me, it could not be everything. That he will grow up to respect women who work, who value their worth beyond their home, too. That someday, she will tell me that she understands my reasoning as she makes her own decision about how to be a woman in this world. And that if there are things that I didn't do because of it...homeschool, or breastfeed until age 2 +, or do full time elimination communication, or not vaccinate...I did the best that I could for our family at the time. I just hope it will all be worth it.
- me
