jodified

I think a lot of women have trouble answering the question, “what do you do?” or “do you work?” because YES WE WORK.

We change diapers and cook meals and budget and pay bills and clean the house and play with our kids and teach our kids and clean the house and scrub toilets and do the laundry and listen to whining and cuddle and pray and run carpool and sing and laugh and read. WE ARE MOTHERS. Hell yes we work. But what if that’s ALL we do? And not a dime comes in to our house because of something we do? In that case, I feel like it’s hard to say anything other than, “um, no, I don’t work, I’m just a mom.”

I’m JUST a mom.

I hear that a lot. I used to say that a lot. I still struggle to say I’m a photographer or designer even though I do contribute to our income in a pretty significant way now. I struggle because so many people say they are photographers and really aren’t. And that pisses me off. And then I feel like I need to say something like, “no really, I do pretty good work, here, look at this… is that good enough? Can I call myself a photographer and you’ll take me seriously?” So here I am, making decent money, and still struggle to be proud of how I fill my days.

But back when I was JUST A MOM I struggled more.

Even though MOTHERING is the HARDEST FREAKING JOB around. Period. I am THANKFUL when I get to sit down here in my parent’s basement and work. Or have a shoot to go on or a project/deadline/editing/whatever to do. Because it takes me away from my HARDER job of being MOMMY. The near-thankless job that never ends. The one I worry about and pray about and loose sleep over. But also the one that brings me immeasureable joy. Of course. Because of course, as the grass is ALWAYS greener, I find myself MISSING those days of JUST being Mommy. I miss the all-day jammie days and kitchen art projects and book reading and snack making that used to fill my days before I was working full-time. Oh that fucking greener grass. Sorry, sometimes I have to curse. This internal struggle is a blog post for another day.

Anyway.

The POINT is, my sister is a MOM. Sure, she works a couple of times a month teaching outdoor education (and is AWESOME at it) but she wouldn’t tell you that is her JOB. I’m sure she’d answer that she’s “just a mom”. A stay-at-home-mom. SAHM. Because she is. But then, 284 days ago she started a blog. To give her days structure. To give her days inspiration. To give her days purpose. To give her creativity an outlet that goes beyond the 2 year old appropriate kitchen table art project. And she’s ROCKING being a blogger. Rocking it.

And by rocking it she’s also taking social media by storm. Learning as she goes, asking questions when she’s confused and making it work for her in an awesome way. One day she will be teaching me so much as she is quickly passing me by in the online world!

But now, NOW, she’s a PAID writer. I love that. I love that for her. Because OFFICIALLY when someone asks what she does she can say she writes. She’s a WRITER. Paid. Will she get rich from this free-lance job? Nope. But will it take her to bigger places? I’d put my money on it. And she deserves every accolade and opportunity she receives b/c she’s working so hard on her blog. And the BEST part is that with her daily writing she’s able to fully involve her bigger job of being Mommy to her girls. Her writing directly reflects what she’s done with her girls that day and I love that. She can’t write if she sits on her butt all day and lets her kids watch tv. SO instead they go exploring and go on adventures and love life and have fun. And it is spelled out each day on her blog.

One day, when she finally writes her book, and she’s a super famous author, I’ll be able to say I knew her when!

So. To all five of you that still read this blog, go read her ARTICLE HERE and leave them a comment telling them how much you love their new free-lance writer!

Thanks.