My
revelation was that in some ways, I am on the defensive regarding my role as
“just a mom” and that in order  to be
legitimate, I need to do it perfectly or at least be striving for perfection.
As I was mulling this revelation, it was timely that I read the following quote;

“I hear two main messages from our culture: first, that
motherhood is a distraction, an interruption from what should be important to
me – mainly myself and a career. Second, if a woman does choose motherhood, the
only way for it to have meaning or value is to do it better than anyone else,
to be a supermom who perfectly balances career, cooking, chauffeuring,
cleaning, personal time, and date nights…a super mom who has a perfect house,
perfect husband, perfect job, and perfect kids – because if you’re going to
focus on motherhood, it is only worthwhile if everything is perfect.”                                                                                  Beyond
Bath Time – Erin Davis

 That quote
struck me because I often find myself believing that i must justify my
career choice of being a mother by doing it perfectly. After all, I can
list so many other
women who are great and committed mothers while still having another
career. I
also know plenty of other moms who, like me, are fighting the feelings
of
failure up against their own expectations and/or the expectations of
others? Were
we intended to be perfect mothers? And I mean perfect by both our
standards or
the standard of others. Is perfection what our children, spouses, or the
world
need from us?

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