What? A compliment from me??!?

When my mom was my age, she had seven kids. Seven kids, as in five more than I have. We all were nice and cozy in a three bedroom house and we shared one bathroom. I was number six, so by the time personal space really mattered to me, most of my brothers had moved out and I could actually go to the bathroom without making an appointment. Things were chaotic at our house, but as a little kid the chaos never really bothered me. I'm not sure that I would have had the same perspective if I had been one of the older kids, but as one of the younger ones, it wasn't bad at all.

Fast forward approximately 30 years. Here I am, with two kids, much more space and much more quiet in my house than my mom and dad ever had, on the cusp of being a stay-at-home-mom, and scared much more than I should be. My mom worked off and on while I was growing up. When she was on, it was pretty much out of necessity rather than because of some deeply held personal desire like a lot of women, or plain old fear which is what has kept me on somebody's payroll for so long. I think she's been a little baffled by my decision to work outside the home since I don't know that being away from her home and family is anything that ever really appealed to her.

Here's what I have decided: If my mom was able to do what she was able to do without ending up in some institution, maybe I will be able to handle it. Way to be an inspiration, mom!

(Now if she could just figure out how to use her computer maybe she would know that I'm trying to give her a compliment here, which unfortunately, isn't something I do very often. I might have to actually tell her about this someday because I'm fairly certain that she will never see it.)