Fw: AAAAHHHH so nice

[Guest guest]

I'm Just a Mother? --- Excuse Me!

 

A few months ago, when I was picking up the children at school,

another mother I knew rushed up to me. Emily was fuming

with indignation. "Do you know what you and I are?"

she demanded.

Before I could answer and I didn't really have one handy ... she

blurted out the reason for her question. It seemed she had just

returned from renewing her driver's license at the County

Clerk's office.

Asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation,

Emily had hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

"What I mean is," explained the recorder, "do you have

a job, or are you just a... ?"

"Of course I have a job," snapped Emily. "I'm a mother."

"We don't list 'mother' as an occupation... 'housewife'

covers it," said the recorder emphatically. I forgot all

about her story until one day I found myself in the same

situation, this time at our own Town Hall.

The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient,

and possessed of a high-sounding title like "Official Interrogator"

or "Town Registrar." "What is your occupation?" she probed.

What made me say it, I do not know. The words simply popped out.

"I am a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and

Human Relations."

The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair, and looked up as

though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly,

emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder

as my pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official

questionnaire.

 

"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in

your field?" Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice,

I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research

[what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field

(normally I would have said indoors and out).

I'm working for my Masters (the whole darned family) and already

have four credits (all daughters!). Of course, the job is one of the

most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?)

and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job

is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the

rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed

the form, stood up, and personally ushered me

to the door.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new

career, I was greeted by my lab assistants - ages 13, 7, and 3.

Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (6 months)

in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.

 

I felt triumphant! I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had

gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable

to mankind than 'just another mother.'

Motherhood... what a glorious career. Especially when there's a title

on the door.

Send this to another Mother you know. Whether a stay at home Mom or a

career Mom, we should all carry this title.

Does this make grandmothers, "Senior Research Associates in the

field of Child Development and Human Relations" and great

grandmothers,

"Executive Senior Research Associates"?