On being a stay at home mom...

Someone told me once that I was "lucky" to be a stay at home mom. Something in that statement jarred me a bit. There was an implication that things in my life were so "perfect" that I was lucky enough to be able to stay home, and that other moms "had" to go to work and couldn't make that same choice.
Staying home with my kids has been a choice. It's a choice I have consciously made. And although I feel blessed to be the one to watch my children grow every day, it has not come without it's sacrifices. Mostly, those sacrifices have come (for us) in the form of financial sacrifices. We don't have any of the "frills" that many other families have. This is not to say that we don't sometimes spend the money we do have needlessly or foolishly. But, there are many things we live without. And it's worth it. It's worth every dollar we do without because I am not working full time. But these are sacrifices all the same, and they are sacrifices we chose to deal with.
Today I watched a staff meeting in the hospital cafeteria as I wait for my dad to recooperate. There was a small gathering of nurses, one of which held a newborn baby girl. I knew this mom was preparing to go back to work, and that this was her first staff meeting after her all-too-short maternity leave. I thought about how much she would miss. When you are with your children all day, every day, there are a million little inteactions that could never be replicated in the two or three hours of "quality time" most working parents get with their children.
I love being the one to hold my four year old in my arms a million times a day if I want to. I love being the one to teach them. I love being the one that's there when they are hurt or need comfort.
This is my choice, this is my calling. Lucky? no. Blessed? yes.