What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Everyone has answered this question at one time or another. It’s about knowing your gifts, making a goal, walking towards that picture in your head and finding your “why”!

I was thinking this morning about why I do what I do.

Why I care about my home?

Why I want to cook healthy meals for my family?

Why I want a place to call “home” that is cozy and comfortable for all who enter?

It boils down to that I’ve always wanted this!

I was about 2 or 3, when my mom walked into where I was playing and I had all my dolls there and I was taking care of them … feeding them, singing to them, etc.

She knew then that I had found my calling in life!

There is a time in Jr. high or high school (or even earlier) when people begin thinking about “what they want to be when they grow up”. I struggled with that question for a couple of reasons.

First reason, because I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a wife and mother. I wanted to have a home, garden and kids running around everywhere. I wanted to bake bread and cookies, preserve what I grew in the garden, have dinner ready when my husband got home from work and sew my kids clothes. The picture was very clear in my head!!

Second reason, this isn’t the “career” that the guidance counselors were wanting to hear. I grew up in a time when women were heading out into the work force and competing with men. My thought was, “okay, let them”. Women were being told (perhaps for the first time), you can do and be whatever you want. Now don’t get me wrong — they can!!! They are!!! They will continue to be whatever they want to be!!!

What these counselors didn’t understand is that this is what I wanted to be. If choosing your path, is truly about what we “want” to do, then why isn’t this okay. Why isn’t it okay to want to be a wife and mother? (Not “just” a wife and mother) Why isn’t it okay to want to have a home and be there? Why are we made to feel inferior because we made this choice?

Now I did go onto college and got a 2 yr secretarial degree. In my mind, this would support me until I got married and could stay home…and it did. Fast forward about 5 years. At this point, I’m a single mom with 2 kids. This 2 yr degree served me very well because it supported us for the 10 years before I married my husband. I was blessed to have something to fall back but still my heart was at home.

After my husband and I got married, I worked another 2 years … 1 yr full-time and 1 yr part-time. At that point, it became obvious that our 4 children (2 mine and 2 his from our previous marriages) needed the stability of having a solid routine. We made the decision to take the plunge and go from 2 incomes to 1 so that regardless as to which home the kids were “at” that day, I picked them up from school, took them to practices, helped with homework and fulfilled those “after school” things that mom’s do.

Let me tell you, this was SO hard (especially for my husband) because on paper it just didn’t work … at all! But we knew that by being obedient in what we felt certain that the Lord wanted us to do that He would make it work and He did.

So I went from earning money to saving money! Went from having someone schedule my time to having to schedule my time better in order to do all that I needed to do and that my family needed.

Needless to say, it was an adjustment!!

I had to change how I shopped, cooked, cleaned, etc. Thinking “outside the box” became the norm for me. Our entire budget changed so I had to be creative. I love a challenge!!!

My childhood had been spent watching my mom and my grandmothers (and grandfathers) do whatever they could to be frugal and efficient. Now it was time to put all the things I had seen into practice.

I started gardening … I mean seriously gardening; I began baking bread (many failures before I got really good at it); cooked from scratch and pinched pennies whenever I could. At one point, I was feeding our family of 6 (2 of them were only there part time) for about $300 a month … that included nonfood items (laundry detergent, paper products, etc.) too and dog food for 3 big dogs (2 golden retrievers and a black lab).

This whole experience led me to where I am today … “Living Old Fashioned In A Modern World”. I love what I do!! I love that I have a home that I enjoy being in and so do other people!! Is it perfect? Hahaha … nope! Is it always immaculate? Again, nope!! (hardly ever just ask my husband) Is it homey? I hope so! Is it comfortable and cozy? Certainly hope so! Can people kick their shoes off, pull up a chair, have a cup of tea (or whatever) and visit? YES!!!

MY DREAM COME TRUE!!!

I’m right where I want to be … doing what I want to do … being who I want to be.

Are you? Whether you’re a SAHM or work outside the home, are you doing what you want to do?

Perhaps you can’t change your circumstances but here’s a little something for you.

I heard a quote recently –

“It’s not the circumstances that create the joy, it’s you!”

Read it again … it’s you! So take hold and go for it. Find something to be grateful for … something that gives you joy … something that makes you laugh … something that makes it all worth while.

Find your inspiration and focus on that. Keep that picture in front of you. That picture will keep you motivated and moving forward. On a hard day, it will give you back the joy.