I am in the middle of reading Power Moms, my fourth book read this year and a gift from my son last Christmas. It’s another volume of Chicken Soup For The Soul. How do you define someone who’s on the go five days a week, wearing corporate attire the whole time and someone who, from sunrise to sundown stays at home and work her way sorting piles of dirty clothes, keeping the house clean, sweeping the yard, preparing lunch, breakfast or dinner? Sometimes, I hear friends say, “where do you work?” and when you answer that you are a stay-at-home-mom, they shake their head in disbelief and follows the question with , “so you are not working?”. My goodness, if being on your toes twelve hours a day is not considered work, what is?
Life’s choices are yours to make. Ten years ago, I was one of those people who was always in a hurry to catch a ride at 7am just to get to the bank where I worked on time. Housework was always relegated to a domestic help. Ten years ago, I opted for an early retirement, a major decision that I didn’t regret. Back then, my oldest kid was only starting college and my youngest was in grade school. Having only one breadwinner in the family was quite hard but we learned to adjust. Those years spent close to my growing kids were quite the best years of what I call “being a mom”. There is a big difference when you personally supervise everything at home, take care of their needs and you are always available to them when they need you. Being a mom is not a nine-to-five job, being a mom is forever.
Yes, if there are power moms, we have those power moments too. I would just want to share the last time I cried buckets because of sheer joy. My two kids and I graduated from the same university. Compared to them, I was a working student when I was in college. My daughter was a consistent honors student from preparatory school to university and my son was in the honor roll until high school. You can just imagine my proud smiles every time I went up the stage to accompany them during school’s closing exercises. The best thing though was when my daughter graduated from university. Hubby (who was then working abroad) and I were not exactly expecting that she graduates on top of her class, we were just so glad that finally, we have a daughter who was about to earn a college degree. A week before graduation, my daughter was busy scouting and submitting CVs to some companies while waiting for the big day, then I got this call from one of her professors. He told me that they just finished their deliberation and my daughter was graduating as Magna Cum Laude. Wow, I could not speak, she made it. The Latin honors indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree was earned.
- cum laude, meaning “with honor”
- magna cum laude, meaning “with great honor”
- summa cum laude, meaning “with highest honor”
Hubby came home just to attend the graduation. It was the first time I set foot at PICC (Philippine International Convention Center)where the graduation ceremonies was held. We were seated in front of the stage, a privilege for parents whose kids were included in the honor roll. She was the only one in her batch of Communication Arts majors who graduated Magna Cum Laude and she was also awarded the recognition for Academic Excellence two weeks before graduation.
That’s what I call my power moments, when you are proud that your children have achieved something on their own. The day she came home to learn about the good news was the same day she was offered her first job.
Dreams And Escapes 