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.