----- Original Message -----
From: <OCEANFRNT3@...>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:;>
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 7:18 PM
Subject: I'm Just A Mother
>
> I'm Just a Mother? Excuse Me???
>
> A few months ago, when I was picking up the children at school,
> Another mother I knew well rushed up to me.
>
> Emily was fuming with indignation. "Do you know what you and I are?"
> She demanded. Before I could answer and I didn't really have one handy
> -
> She blurted out the reason for her question. It seemed she had just
> Returned from renewing her driver's license at The County Clerk's
> office.
> Asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation, Emily had
> hesitated,
> Uncertain how to classify herself.
>
> "What I mean is," explained the recorder, "do you have a job, or are
> you just a .....?"
>
> "Of course I have a job," snapped Emily. "I'm a mother."
>
> "We don't list 'mother' as an occupation. "Housewife' covers it,"
> said the recorder emphatically.
>
> I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same
> situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a
> career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high-sounding
> title like "Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar."
> "And what is your occupation?" she probed. What made me say it, I do
> not know. The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the
> field of Child Development and Human Relations."
>
> The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair, and looked up as
> though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly,
> emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my
> pompous
> pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official
> questionnaire.
> "Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in
> your field?"
>
> Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply,
> "I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't) in the
> laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and
> out).
> I'm working for my Masters (the whole darned family) and already
> Have four credits (all daughters). "Of course, the job is one of the
> most Demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?) and I
often
> work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more
> challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are in
> satisfaction rather than just money." There was an increasing note of
> respect in the clerk's
> voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to
the
> door.
>
> As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I
> Was greeted by my lab assistants - ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I
> could Hear our new experimental model (6 months) in the child-development
> program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
>
> I felt triumphant! I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone
> On the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable
> To mankind than "just another mother."
>
> Motherhood...what a glorious career. Especially when there's a title on
> the door.
>
> Send this to another Mother you know. Whether a stay at home Mom or
> A career Mom, we should all carry this title.
>