i have this need to tell you...

I stayed home with my children for a very long time. As a matter of fact, we had the amazing chance to live a very "wholesome" life in the middle of the Mennonite community in a house built by Mennonites! They taught me how to make bread from scratch, can fruits and vegies, attempted to teach me how to sew (not a pretty sight, I'm very clumsy) and so many things that we loved. That was quite amazing because well, I will never live down what I told my parents when they told me I needed to learn how to cook. I said, "No, I will eat out all of the time." Yeah. And three decades later I still sometimes get teased about it. Anyway, we loved living there. The kids listened to the radio instead of watching television (!), they played outside in a beautiful yard with fruit trees. I even hung the clothes out to dry (still had a dryer) and they ran in and out of the clean smelling sheets. Then we moved.

Eventually I went to work for regular paychecks again. My first marriage ended around the same time so all of the things that I had thought would happen (happily ever after, be "home" forever, etc.) didn't work out.

When my kids were little I never really thought of my life as "missing" anything. I did not dream of anything "glamorous" but opportunities did present themselves. I can honestly say that there is NOTHING I love more than my family. There isn't an experience on this planet that I feel I "missed" by being with my children full-time BUT during the time when I worked "outside the home" I missed many moments with them! Yes, it was necessary. Yes, it may be necessary again. I am not passing any judgments on anyone else. I can only speak for myself. I am so glad to see them more now! I still "work" but for myself. Eventually that may change back. I haven't a crystal ball :) However, I have seven children and I am not so good at doing my best as a wife/mother at the end of a very exhausting day (or week when traveling). I like to give THEM my best and it always seemed I was too tired to give much else.

so the flashback....I enjoyed working in offices for a while. I started my first job at the age of 16. I worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield half of the day. I went to high school in the morning and then rode w/ a friend to work and my Dad picked me up at 5:00. One day we were riding home and a song came on the radio that I didn't even realize that my dad knew. I guess I thought he couldn't hear "my songs"? But he said, "Listen to these lyrics and always remember this." He told me how important it was for a mother to be a mother....and my dad KNEW. He was the principal of an alternative school. I had wonderful parenting role models-my mother and my grandmothers and my father.

Why do I remember this? My dad was and is one of those people who never said/say a whole lot because he typically thinks through what he is going to say first. Wouldn't it be GREAT if we all did that? So anyway, I remember just about everything that he told me. Unfortunately I didn't always follow his sage advice. What he was saying is that there is nothing in life that is more important than family...nothing the "world" holds and can give that compares to real love! Here is the link:

Never Been To Me