Cchicken's Weblog

Since becoming a mommy, I have frequently been asked if I am going back to work.  While the automatic and technically correct answer is “no, I’m taking a leave from teaching,” I don’t think that is entirely accurate.  But, seeing as how I am not heading back to a scheduled work scenario, I sometimes wonder how to answer that question.

For some reason, I find myself not wanting to tell everyone about my writing – maybe it doesn’t feel “real” yet, or maybe I don’t feel like getting into the long story that prompted me to tackle writing a book.  I’m not sure.  Then there is the obvious answer I could give about not returning to teaching, but being busier than ever before.  (which, by the way, is true, but not the most genuine answer I could give.)

So, what then, is my work?  This is the question I have been mulling over in my mind for a bit of time.  Last weekend, at a lovely yoga retreat (time alone! what’s that?!) I think I found my answer.  Throughout all my tasks in a day or in a week there is one commonality.  From the cooking and cleaning to the bill paying to the story book reading and song singing to the dog walks and the star gazing to the research and writing to the rushing about all day so that when Daddy comes home we can all just be - it is all with one main intention.

To create home.

Home.  I’m sure the word resonates differently for people.  For me, home is a comfortable place, no, more than comfortable – a sacred place – a place where the outside world can’t touch me unless I let it.  Home is filled with good smells, non-judgment, and cuddles.  Home is family, home is peace, home is learning and growing.  When I consider the type of home I want my son to know, it makes me realize how I actually feel about my daily work.  It isn’t just getting a good dinner on the table.  It isn’t just massaging warm sesame oil on dry baby skin.  It isn’t just folding laundry.  It isn’t just reading my little guy a favorite poem, even if he doesn’t know the words yet.  It is all part of creating home.  And what more important work could there be?

Home is where we come from.  I want my babies to come from a place filled with heart and soul.  No.  I am not going back to work.  But I feel pretty fulfilled anyway.