I often said that I learned as much during homeschooling as my kids did and that I felt guilty sometimes for having so much time to sit and learn about stuff I was interested in while my poor husband had to spend his day in an office. What other job allows such variety, such scope for the imagination, such opportunity for physical affection. I’ve been a teacher, I’ve worked in an office, I’ve done sales, and I’ve never had a job that stretched me as much or given as much back as being a mother has.

I must admit I am looking forward to grandparenting with an incredible eagerness because it looks like a place where you get many of the benefits, but skip most of the tough stuff. But grandmas don’t get to nurse babies or sleep with them. That’s for one season of life only. It’s too bad that some people try to rush through that season without really appreciating the joys it brings. This isn’t just looking through rose colored glasses of memory. I remember waking up with the family sleeping in a sort of H pattern (son across the middle of the bed, daughter next to mom, daddy hanging off the other edge of the bed,0 and thinking that as uncomfortable as it was in a way that it was the best of times. We had our bad moments too, but if I had it to do all over again, I’d do it all over again, only I’d have more kids.

I think the greatest thing about motherhood, in a global sense, is how I have grown. Being a mother reveals my sin to me on a constant basis. I am made fully aware of my selfishness daily. I am forced to die to myself in a thousand ways. And because I WANT to be less selfish, I consider this a gift, not a curse.

Sometimes I do get whiny about it - surely just as whiny as the women on Oprah. But all it takes is one snotty kiss from a 2 year old or hearing one of my children exclaim “Mommy, you’re the BEST and I’ll never stop loving you” to remind me why I am the most blessed woman on earth.

However, Oprah does much good in our world - I just feel there are other ways to get information and entertainment.