Surrounded by Amazing Women

I was talking to my husband today about the amazing women around me. It all started last summer, when at the pool, talking to my "very pregnant with her fourth child" friend, she casually mentioned that before she had kids, she was a tax accountant. She laughed and said, "Whenever we take our taxes into our "tax" people, they offer me a job." Later on, I was talking to a friend at the park while we watched our kids play and she mentioned that she is an artist. Not someone who draws with her kids, but someone who does commissioned art work for people's multi-million dollar houses. She laughed and said, "I don't do it as much anymore because I am busying raising my kids, but still do it occasionally." I have friends that used to be teachers, special education counselors, statisticians, organizational behavior specialists, hygienists, doctors, have their Phd's and many other careers.

On facebook, I have discovered friends who take professional family portraits, are professional chefs, children's book authors, lawyers, and have MBA's. And most of them are not doing these things professionally anymore or are only doing them on a very limited basis because they are raising kids.

I am in awe of them. These are woman who had HUGE careers and are now raising kids full time. I sit next to these woman in church, at the pool, on the sidelines during sports events for our kids, and at elementary school programs. We are all so busy with our crazy lives of raising our kids that we don't think to talk about what we were before we stopped to become mothers and dedicated our lives to our children. Instead of sitting in board meetings, we sit on the floor and play legos. Instead of arguing a case before a judge, we are now arguing with our kids about eating their vegetables. We all worry about how our kids are doing in school, if we are giving them the attention they need, if we are pushing them enough or too hard. We are striving to make our houses homes for the precious few years we have with our kids. We occasionally talk about what we will be in our "third lives", when we are done raising kids and we rarely bring up what we did before we were lucky enough to be able to choose to stop to raise our kids. (I know many working mothers, for financial reasons can't quit their jobs and this is by no reason, not acknowledging how hard it is to be a working mother.)

Our first lives were important then just as our current lives are important now and I know universally, we love and are proud of what we are doing now. I feel so blessed that these talented woman are raising my kid's friends and future spouses. I am surrounded by amazing women.