Where Did You Graduate From College? A Mother’s Story….

This is a guest post by my beautiful baby sister.  I hope you enjoy it.

In my life as a Mommy I meet so many amazing Moms.  Many are eager to share details about their past life as a college alum or career woman, but there is another group.  There is a group that looks down and away from your eye contact as you ask, “What did you used to do?” or “So, where did you go to school?”  These women quickly lament over the fact that they “only” went to high school or maybe never even finished that.  Or maybe they are college graduates who have just always chosen to be a stay at home mom.  They say things like, “Oh I have always JUST been a stay at home Mom, I guess college was a waste of money for me.”  These women break my heart because they don’t see what I see in them, what their children see in them.  The lack of worth they feel is clear by the way they respond with a less than enthusiastic tone. 

There is something I would like them and all women, even women with fancy framed degrees hanging on the wall, to know.  Once you have a child and you make the conscious decision to not just be a person who gives birth, (because let’s face it, us moms realize as our children grow that that was the easy part) but to be an amazing Mom, everything you did in the past becomes instantly insignificant in comparison. 

 So if you are a totally checked in, stay up all night when my baby has a fever, minivan/taxi combo driving, cupcake making, going to the potty with an audience, booger wiping (sometimes without a tissue!), playdate having, caffeine drinking, tear drying, knee kissing, bedtime book reading Mommy then you my friend are attending the toughest school ever created.  You are a student at the University of Motherhood and trust me, you will pull more all nighters as a student at U of M than any college student in the history of time. 

I must warn you however, that you may never graduate from this school because I hear once you are accepted in this amazing university your schooling does not end until the day you die.  By the way, if we can see down from Heaven I doubt it even stops there!

The good news is that you get your diploma in advance so go to your scrapbook or the box where you keep all things important and dust off your baby’s birth certificate, whether your little one is a week old or 37.  Then go buy the most beautiful frame you can find and hang that birth certificate (which is your University of Motherhood acceptance letter and diploma all in one)  proudly on your wall.  It is more precious than any degree you have ever or will ever earn.

The next time someone asks where you went to school you tell them I am currently attending U of M and, if they happen to be at your house take them over and show them your diploma.  For those of you that did graduate from a typical university, I hope you too will hang your certificate from U of M proudly on your wall next to your other diploma to let your children know that they are your life’s work and your crowning achievement…more important than anything you ever have or ever will do again in this lifetime. 

Addison being her silly self

So go on…be the best student of the University of Motherhood that you can possibly be.  And hopefully one day, when it is our time to depart from this earth we will look back at our life’s work and know that we have finally not just graduated, but graduated with honors.
 
-Kimberlee R.
Student at U of M, Graduate of Southwest Texas University and Proud Stay At Home Mommy to Andrew, age 9 and Addison, age 5