What I Finally Have the Guts to Admit

My girlfriend just posted a blog that truly takes guts.

Gina Miller, the long-time sports anchor/reporter-turned-social media guru, has long touted the fact she does NOT feel guilty being a working mother.

The prolific blogger and entrepreneur even changed careers recently and is probably putting in more hours than ever, building her new business. She says she STILL doesn’t feel guilty while raising her darling daughter, Jordan. Not a bit.

Jordan & Gina, "That Sports Girl"

Let me tell you, I have never lived guilt-free. Not a day in my life.

But I tell you what, I am starting to now.

My three children are now in college. One is about to graduate in May and begin his own career.  I truly miss the activity and purpose they brought to my life when they lived at home full time. And I now find myself struggling to fill my spare hours with meaningful tasks and goals.  

Tracy, Luke & Nicole Kornet

I just returned from visiting my youngest son in Nashville who, as I learned upon landing, was battling flu and strep. Had to pick him up at Student Health, in fact, and was henceforth on a mission to help make him feel better before I left town.

Taking care of my 7-foot son put me on Cloud 9—buying him medicine, making him eat, driving him to the gym, setting him up on the king bed at my hotel so he could sleep on a mattress that finally fits his frame.

The following day, after he slept a good 10-12 hours, we went shopping for winter clothes and better dorm bedding.

I loved every second of it.

It’s crazy how much I love being a mother. Absolutely crazy. I feel I have soaked up every ounce of joy from every single stage of their lives.

And yet, had I not nurtured the working side of me alongside motherhood, I would feel utterly lost in my current stage.

I have needed both family and career equally. I knew it as a teenager; I anguished over maintaining a proper balance throughout my 20s and 30s; and now in my 40s, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am better off having had both.

Why on earth do we feel so guilty--even go so far as to perpetuate guilt among other women--for desiring a career AND motherhood?

It makes NO sense.  

And I‘m happy I finally have the guts to admit it.