Domestic Goddess

My mother is my hero. She has been married to my dad for nearly 30 years, and not once have I seen them even raise their voices at each other. Mom is a hospital administrator (read: she's the boss). She is a high-powered business woman and very successful, and yet she manages to have supper on the table almost every night. She does the laundry and waters the plants and changes the house's decorations with each season. She plans our family vacations down to every detail and researches the best deals and best quality. She's a bargain shopper and coupon cutter, and I have not wanted for a day in my life. Between my mom and my dad, I have been provided with every need, not mention many, many wants (and believe me, I have lots of wants). I have witnessed my mother lose her first born and battle through her grief with grace and inspiring faith in her Savior and Creator. My mother is an unbelievable woman of God, seeking his will every single day and praying through every situation.

I could go on, but I won't.

When most little girls dressed up like princesses, I was dressing up in my mom's heels and power suits. But I was still playing house and working tirelessly in my Fisher-Price play kitchen. I dreamed of being a doctor or (shocker) a hospital administrator. I had business meetings with my dolls, and I even fired a few.

I have learned so much from my mom. I am a world-class planner, and I am efficient to an almost comedic level. Lately, though, I've been straying from my ambitions of being a "somebody" in the business world.

I got a sewing machine for Christmas, and I have taken up cross-stitching while I watch re-runs of Sex and the City and Will & Grace. I watch Food Network when I'm up late and dream up meals that I might cook for Evan if we can ever fit a date night in. I've been painting and Mod Podge-ing anything I can cover in scrapbook paper. Alice and I are planning to paint my apartment soon, and she's introduced me to Martha Stewart's website.

Don't get me wrong: I don't think God's plan for me is to be a stay-at-home mom (although I have all the respect in the world for these truly selfless individuals), but I think there's a happy medium between being a business woman and domestic goddess. And that place is what I like to call "Soccer Mom."

I want to be a wife and mother. I want to volunteer in the community and host Disciple Now weekends for my church. I want to bring juice boxes to my kids' soccer games (or football or swimteam or cheer practice or dance rehearsals). I want to hand-make Halloween costumes. I want to sponsor the high school senior's Homecoming float and be the cheerleading coach (career goal: guidance counselor). I want to try out for local theater and sing solos in "big church." I want to make a quilt, and I want to have a signature dish. I want to host cocktail parties for all my grown-up friends and work in the church nursery on Sunday mornings.

So I'm going to be a guidance counselor. I probably won't find a cure for cancer, and I'll definitely never be a millionaire... But I'll cultivate relationships, and I'll make things with my hands that I can be proud of.

And I'm down with that.