Emma and I recently had a discussion about what she wanted to be when she grows up.
I gave her several suggestions, to which she replied, "I want to be just a mommy."
My heart skipped a sorry little beat, and my stomach lurched.
My initial reaction inside was to shout, "Oh, NO! What have I taught you? Aim high! Get a PhD--be an astronaut--a college professor--a CEO... Aim high, sweet daughter!"
But then I sat back and thought. And thought. And thought some more.
Of course we want her to get an education.
Of course we want her to aim high and plan for a successful career.
Of course we want her to develop her talents, interests, and abilities in such a way that she will be an asset to society and be able to support herself and her family.
Of course.
BUT.
"Just a mommy."
Right now, I am exactly that, and in spite of the challenges, there is nothing else I would rather be doing.
I won't preach here about how undervalued motherhood is in our society, nor will I preach about its inifinite demands and multitude of merits. I also won't add to the endless debate over stay-at-home motherhood versus working motherhood.
But I will post here a few (OK, more than a few) of my favorite quotable quotes on motherhood.
“One of the important messages that emerges from the history of great women in all ages is that they cared more for the future of their families than for their own comfort. Such good women had a grasp of what matters in life…. We have grown strong as a people because our mothers and our women have been so selfless. That ennobling quality must not be lost, even though some of the people of the world may try to persuade otherwise.”
--President Spencer W. Kimball
“No matter what you read or hear, no matter what the differences of circumstances you observe in the lives of women about you, it is important for you Latter-day Saint women to understand that the Lord holds motherhood and mothers sacred and in the highest esteem. He has entrusted to his daughters the great responsibility of bearing and nurturing children. This is the great, irreplaceable work of women. Life cannot go on if women cease to bear children. Mortal life is a privilege and a necessary step in eternal progression. Mother Eve understood that. You must also understand it. It was never easy to bear and rear children, but easy things do not make for growth and development. Much is said about the drudgery and the confinement of the woman’s role in the home. In the perspective of the gospel it is not so. There is divinity in each new life. There is challenge in creating the environment in which a child can grow and develop. There is partnership between the man and woman in building a family that can last throughout the eternities.”
--President Spencer W. Kimball
“The nearest thing to Christ’s love for mankind is a mother’s love for her child.”
--President David O. McKay
“You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out… The searing question that will cross your mind again and again will be, How well have my children done? If the answer is that they have done very well, then your happiness will be complete. If they have done less than well, then no other satisfaction can compensate for your loss.” --President Gordon B. Hinckley
“It is an act of greatness and heroism to hold a family together, to set before them an example, to teach them in the ways of truth, to live a life of consistency, to provide necessities, to nurse and serve in sickness, to wash, to cook, to clean, to make, to mend, to counsel, to love, to understand, to pray, to be patient, and to do the thousand other unnamed things that it takes to rear a family, to make a house a home—and to do it every day, sometimes without seeming gratitude—and to lead a family righteously into eternal life.” --Elder Richard L. Evans
“The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. None other can adequately taker her place. It is well-nigh impossible to be a full-time homemaker and full-time employee. I know how some of you struggle with decisions concerning this matter. You know your circumstances, and I know that you are deeply concerned for the welfare of your children….[A]s the years pass, you will become increasingly grateful for that which you did in molding the lives of your children in the direction of righteousness and goodness, integrity and faith.” --President Gordon B. Hinckley
“Women today are being encouraged by some to have it all—generally, all simultaneously: money, travel, marriage, motherhood, and separate careers in the world…. Doing things sequentially—filling roles one at a time at different times—is not always possible, as we know, but it gives a woman the opportunity to do each thing well in its time and to fill a variety of roles in her life….[A woman] may fit more than one career into the various seasons of life. She need not try to sing all the verses of her song at the same time.” --President James E. Faust
“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long perfectly manicured nails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud in the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Shenck’s lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s child. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.” --Marjorie P. Hinckley
In light of these statements, I think it's OK for Emma to want to be "just a mommy." A-OK.
