Before all else
I am a mother before all else.
No matter what else I have done, or do in my life, motherhood will be the role I remember first.
Yet when I’m asked what my occupation is on an enrolment form, I hesitate.
“What do I write here?”
“Is being a mother work?”
And as my pen hovers above the blank line I forget.
I forget I’ve been awake at night feeding my baby since the day she was born.
I forget I’ve been up since 5am with my toddler playing with trucks on broken sleep.
I forget I have been in and out of the car for kindy pick ups and drop offs.
And that’s not even half of it.
What about the fact I haven’t had a proper break in months?
What about the fact that my mind is constantly bursting with too many things for any living person to have to remember?
What about the sacrifices I make every day to end every single one feeling like I still haven’t done enough?
Does that not count for something?
Then there’s the clothes on their back - I may not have paid for them, but I make sure they have them.
And the same can be said for the food they eat, the activities they do, the beds they sleep in.
Everything I give to my children may not have come from money I have earnt, but from the work I have done.
“It deserves to count.
It deserves to count.
It deserves to count”,
I tell myself.
“My children deserve to count.
My children deserve to count.
My children deserve to count”,
I remind myself.
And so I put pen to paper and write my occupation as “Mother”.
Because I am a mother,
Before all else.
And it is work,
After all.