I’ve Been a Stay-at-Home Mom for a Decade, But Now It’s My Time — & I'm Doing Something Big

I’m going to nursing school.

I’ve probably said or typed that sentence more than 100 times over the last few months, but it hasn’t quite started to feel completely real. It feels exhilarating, exciting, hopeful … and terrifying.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for a decade. For ten full years, I’ve devoted most of my time and mental energy to my home and my children. While my husband built a strong, successful career that could sustain our family financially, I kept everything moving within our four walls.

He couldn’t have done it without me, and I couldn’t have done with without him. We did a really good job balancing the zillion things that had to be just right to make it all work.

I am proud of the work I chose for the first decade of my parenting life. You’ll never meet a person who wanted all this more than I did. Who wants all this more than I do.

In a world where women have millions of options, I actively decided to play a role that seems to some to be very old-fashioned and traditional. Maybe it is. I chose it, and I love it.

But my babies aren’t babies anymore. My youngest is 3. She will be in full-time preschool in a year, and then what?

I have no desire to be a full-time homemaker. That was never part of my dream. I do household stuff because I live here, and squalor makes me anxious. But I never really wanted to be a housewife. I just wanted to be home with my kids.

Soon, though, there won’t be any kids at home all day.

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