Once upon a time there was a young woman who was just certain she would change the world. In all of her 25-year-old wide-eyed, free-timed splendor, she signed up for committees, she ladled soup at the free kitchen and she marched the important marches. And then, on Dec. 18, 2000, at 4:04 p.m., the world that she was so intent on changing went from a population of 6,677,563,921 people to a population of 1. One wide-eyed, breathtaking baby girl to be exact.
The birth of my first child rendered my world of real concerns smaller, yet so, so much bigger in a single blink (or shall I say with a final push).
For the next eight years, I rested somewhat easily with the notion that my lasting contribution may not be made through tax-exempted causes, but by raising phenomenal children. I would love them beyond reason so that they were happy and successful—so that in their world, there was peace. I would inspire them to care, to give, to carry the baton to affect the masses.
And then it happened. My children entered school and my schedule did what no new mother thinks will happen again—it opened up. Way up. Now, every year, when the bus pulls away on the first day of school and I finish wiping my eyes yet again (damn it), I take a deep breath and let the bigger world matter again.
Fitting Moms to a V
When I took my eight-year nap from “significant” volunteering, I was not alone.
Click here to read the rest of this article from HybridMom.com
