Skip to main content

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.

Comments

  1. Lovely sentiments, Tracy. Thanks for coming clean :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rex, it's taken me years. Trying to finally own my truth!

      Delete
  2. Great article, Tracy.. Great Mom, Great newswoman, and a great lady... Thanks for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for the wonderful words, John. :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Little Blonde Girl

The first week of my first tv anchor job, my milk came in ten minutes before the start of the early morning newscast. My newborn daughter was just three months old. I recall standing in my nursing bra and skirt in the tiny station bathroom, frantically blow-drying the massive wet spots from my periwinkle Casual Corner blazer. That little girl turns 25 this Friday. One of my most vivid memories of Nicole Elizabeth’s childhood-- of which there are millions-- was her first day of 7th grade in a massive middle school outside of Dallas, Texas. We had moved mid-year from Phoenix, and her dad, little brother and I were walking Nicole to her new classroom. Her future classmates were sitting on the floor outside, lined up against the hallway, waiting to leave for P.E.. As we approached, one little blonde girl shouted, “New girl, sit here!” Another joined in, “No. Sit here!” And another, “What’s your name, new girl?” I was stunned--flab

That Time I Was Almost a Pop Star

Anri's Circuit of Rainbow music video (That's me on the right!) It was what I'd always imagined life would be like as a big-time singer. The massive, metallic stage opens like Moses parting the Red Sea...the recognizable guitar riff blaring throughout Tokyo's legendary Budokan arena. Five of us dancers on pedestals of varying heights, box-step and bounce...summoning the tens of thousands of screaming Japanese fans to get louder. Anticipation builds with every "Come on!" Let's go! Get it up!" we declare. Finally, the beloved Anri dances on to the stage...and the crowd goes wild... The year was 1988. I had dropped out of college for two semesters after a fighter-pilot-older-brother-of-my-high-school-friend told me he "saw Americans working" at Tokyo Disneyland . "You should go do that, Tracy!" he said, standing in my family's Tampa, Florida kitchen during Christmas break of my sophomore year. I called nearby D

The REAL Botox Diaries with Gina & Tracy: Monday Motivations

From staying sane to to keeping slim, stylish and relatively wrinkle free-- this is the diary of two working TV moms. Here are most of the links we mention in this chat session: Jeff Jamison goes viral Gina Miller's blog Hermes Wallpaper Clothes Mentor.com Cashmere Eye Shadow