Professional Role Model

As my thirty-eighth trip around the sun quickly approaches, I’ve been reflecting on my career path. My entire life has been dedicated to raising children, and at age thirty-seven, I have birthed none. As the oldest of four, I have worked in childcare practically since I was born. I started receiving a W-2 for it at eighteen when I worked at the local YMCA and donned a shirt that said “Professional Role Model.” Now, at age thirty-seven, I have made a living caring for children for over twenty years. It’s almost like that Professional Role Model t-shirt was a prophecy!

Since my eggs are well into the geriatric phase- though my spirit is young- I’m also reflecting on what people expect from a woman my age. There’s a pressure that society puts on us to procreate, and it follows a timeline. Some people will assume that if you have a uterus you absolutely must birth a child. Relatives will say “Happy Mother’s Day” to you because “you will be one day.” The clock ticks. The pressure is so palpable that you may be forced to throw your hands in the air and say, “You know what? Maybe I should just have a baby to join some sort of club with a very expensive and permanent initiation!”

I’ve always teetered two worlds: the nurturer, and the creator. Creator not in the human life sense, but in the art sense. The real goal was always a creative career. It’s amazing how much watching children…