Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Like She's A Good Judge

I stopped watching Oprah a long, long time ago.  But about two or three years ago I watched an episode because one of the mommy-bloggers I follow (Dooce) was going to be a guest.  The episode was about Stay-At-Home-Moms (SAHM's) and what their lives look like.  At one point Oprah said "I've often said that being a SAHM is the toughest job there is".  Offended, I thought to myself, Oprah, you're a nitwit.  As a Work-Outside-the-Home-Mom (WOHM) I do everything a SAHM does, only I also have to fit in a full time job!  I figured at the time that Oprah just couldn't fathom spending that many hours a day with actual children. 

Fast forward to the present.  I have many incredible friends who are SAHM's.  I watch with total envy as we all drop our kids off at school, me in my work clothes, them in their workout clothes.  They discuss what time they'll get together to go walking around the neighborhood, the errands they have to do for the day, what time they have to be back to volunteer in their child's classroom.  Or they have to run home and catch up on laundry, clean the dinner dishes from the night before, vacuum the house before friends come over.  Man, if only I could spend my days like that, instead of cramming those same things into the wee hours of the night while my children are sleeping. 

And yet, I'd like to think that sometimes they look at me with envy - having an excuse to dress up more than once every few months, getting to commute to work in a car BY MYSELF, having adult conversations all day, taking clients to fancy restaurants for lunch, playing in golf tournaments, traveling for meetings and taking advantage of room service, negotiating over dollars instead of video games.  I suppose these are all pretty good trade-offs and it's really just a matter of perspective. 

It made me think to myself that Oprah wasn't totally off base, maybe only halfway.  Because in reality, the "toughest job" title has nothing to do with what you do for a living. 

The toughest job in the world?  MOTHERHOOD.  It will make you crazy.

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