Top Ten Things Henry Taught Me...#1

10. Anything worth having is worth working for.
9.  Enjoy the little things.
8.  Every child I interact with is someone's "Henry."
7.  To be a mother is to watch your heart walk around outside your body.
6.  There truly are angels on earth.
5.  Everyone is fighting some sort of battle we know nothing about.
4.  Time is a gift.
3.  Death is not the end of a relationship.
2.  You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
1.  Motherhood is the best job I could ever hope for.

I've had a lot of jobs in my life...baby-sitter, the Firth Co-Op, a grocery store clerk, child care, Hallmark, adolescent treatment facility staff member, classroom teacher, Starbucks barista, librarian...some I've enjoyed more than others; some paid better than others; some hours were better than others.  I learned something from all of these jobs, yet none of them prepared me for the best job I've ever had.

This best job is a grueling one.  It requires being on call and available 24 hours per day.  There are no holidays, sick days or days off from this job.  It requires regular contact with a variety of bodily fluids.  It is one in which your needs come second to the needs of the job...always.  Cooking, cleaning and teaching are all part of this job.  As far as money goes, this job doesn't pay well (or at all), but the benefits are astronomical.  Benefits include smiles and giggles, immense pride in new accomplishments, and getting to be a kid again.  The most important benefit is unconditional love. 

Despite our losses and sadness, being a mother is still the best job I have ever had.  Nothing can compare to newborn baby snuggles, even if it is at 3 a.m. and it's the third time that night.  Seeing your baby smile (really smile) for the first time is amazing, as are all the firsts.  Watching this part of you grow and develop into his or her own person is almost indescribable.  I never knew how much I wanted this job until I had it, and once I got this job I knew nothing else would compare.  Even now, as a mother to two angels, I am grateful for this job.  I am grateful to have carried my two sons, and to have been able to snuggle them both.  I didn't get to snuggle them nearly as long as I wanted to, but I think that's true for all mothers.  Our children, as children tend to do, grow too fast...and before long they are no longer our babies but rather they're our kids, or even our grown adults raising babies of their own.  I cherish the memories of my boys, and I thank them for giving me this wonderful job...the job of motherhood.