Willow Branches in Autumn Winds

Thoughts On Being a Stay-At-Home Mom

I haven’t posted on Tumblr in a while—busyness has taken over. But I’ve had a lot of stuff ruminating in my brain. So I’m hoping to get some time in the next few weeks to write about it.

Part of that stuff has been me trying to decide if I like being a stay-at-home mom or not.  Many people have asked me how I like it, and I usually respond positively, but lately I’ve been wondering if that’s because I think I’m supposed to like it.  I’m a woman—isn’t that what I’m made for?  Isn’t that my main calling in this season of my life and the life of my child?  Also, if I say I don’t really like it, is that like saying I don’t like my son, and I don’t like spending time with him?  

Yesterday I picked Mark up from work and went inside with Isaac for a few minutes (Mark wanted to show him off to his coworkers).  I almost immediately got this nostalgic, longing feeling—I miss going to work and working with a great community of colleagues.  I had that when I taught at US.  When I’m home I find myself going to my computer again and again, checking facebook, twitter, buzz, blogs—trying to have some interaction with other human beings, even cyber interaction.

People often ask me if I’ve gotten involved with a mommy group.  I haven’t.  I had the chance to, it just never seemed to click for me.  I want to talk about things like politics, what it means to follow Jesus, how to love people and be authentic, what the Church is supposed to look like, how to meet the pressing needs that exist in our city and things like that.  The other mommies I met through mommy groups wanted to talk about their kids, or their in-laws, or their homes.  Perhaps if I had spent some more time with them talking about these things we could have gotten to some of that other stuff.  I don’t make new friends easily. 

I do love Isaac, and I enjoy spending time with him.  I think if I worked at it I could get better at the stay-at-home mom thing, and enjoy it more.  But I also want to find some outlet for my other passions and interests.  We’re working on figuring that out now.  Mark is very supportive of that, and I’m grateful that he understands how I’m feeling.

So, that’s some of what’s on my mind at the moment.  I’ll be trying to post more thoughts later…