A Daughter of The King. The Dragonslayer’s Wife. Queen Mother of two Knights of The Realm and a very precocious Princess. Keeper of the castle. Dame of The Order of Goldfish. Empress of Errands. Mistress of Meals.
Luckiest woman in the world.
In less superlative terms: I’m a stay-at-home mama with a Theatre degree. I’ve been married to my college sweetheart since 1999. We have two sons and a daughter. I “retired” from non-profit arts administration in 2004 because I figured if I was going to spend my days cleaning up other people’s crap for little money and even less appreciation, I might as well do it for my kids instead.
True story.
In 2013, we became a homeschooling family. It was something of a heel-dragging, petulant transition for me; as a homeschool graduate myself, I had a real idea of just how much work a “parent-educator” takes on. Fortunately, the Lord is the Parent-Educator. By His persistent grace, I’ve rediscovered homeschooling as a privilege rather than a burden — a daily treasure hunt in which the riches we unearth far exceed the toil of the search. (Which is not to imply we don’t have out share of days, y’all. Believe me.)
In between times, I keep busy. And I write. (Probably because the Betty Ford Center has yet to develop a program for people like me.) Mostly screenplays and long-form fiction. I used to write poetry, too, but that was in college when I thought I knew everything about life.
And then I became a mother. Heh.
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Sometimes I call myself The Anti-Feminist. I’m one of those “gender traitors” who actually enjoys staying at home with my children.
I do miss adult conversation. And lunching. And accolades. And paychecks. But not enough to ever want to “go back to work.” For starters, I hate being told what to do. I hate schedules. I hate meetings. Phone calls. Emails. Blah.
I love teaching my kids. I love making memories. I love helping these little people discover the big people they will one day become.
The vocation of Motherhood is a deceptively complex, oft-derided challenge. As my own mother says: God gives you the children He knows you need to help you become the person He intended. Each of the three individuals I birthed challenges me in a unique way: as a mother, as a teacher, and as a Christ follower.
Compared to any job I’ve ever had? Motherhood is more. More hours, more frustration, more intellectually-challenging, more physically-demanding, more emotionally-harrowing, more rewarding, more joyful, more world-changing, more stimulating, more exhausting, more eternally-significant. More everything.
Leave all that to go back to the widget factory? Nah.
I choose autonomy and yoga pants. Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Meanwhile, my Knight-In-Shining-Armor handles the slaying of beasts and the replenishment of the castle treasury. And that’s just his day job. He is my hero and the #1 reason I lay claim to the title Luckiest Girl in the World. From which peril would he shrink in service to his lady? “None,” quoth she.
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I hope not even a casual visitor could infer, from these simple pages, that I have it all, that I know it all, or that I’ve got it all figured out. But if you like clean takeaways, try this:
Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation’s final law
Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek’d against his creed…— Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.
Life isn’t perfect, friends. Not even in Camelot.
At the very least, I hope you find it real. Happy reading and thanks for stopping by!
