"Balance balance, use your balance." (JoJo's Circus)

So I need to apologize for my last post. I came across as demeaning the music classes and everything we SAHMs do. In reality, I love our music class; I think the babies adore it and that is what counts. Additionally, I know I am the luckiest bitch in the world. I get to stay home in my pajamas if I so choose and play toys all day with 2 of my more favorite people in the world.

I have no deadlines and set my own schedule. I report to no one other than demanding toddlers and I get paid in hugs, kisses and giggles. I get plenty of grown-up company- thats what playdates are for. I have time to watch my Tivoed shows, read the newspaper (never anything about children getting hurt), and experiment with new recipes. And if sometimes, if my brain feels like I have cobwebs in it from lack of use, a game of Sudoku helps.

I will admit to feeling a bit lackluster at parties with little to contribute to parties other than poop stories. I barely remember, what did I talk about before becoming a mother? It also feels like an apology sometimes when I answer the ubiquitous DC question, "what do you do?" In DC in particular, this is a major hot button. What do you do defines who you are. I guess that is the case all over the world, but profession really speaks volumes inside the Beltway. Answering "homemaker," always a little defiantly, daring someone to denigrate me, makes me question my choices a little.

I would like to find a bit more balance professionally. I have been meeting with the same playgroup for 3 years now. There are 3 other women with their children in it. One day in the first weeks of meeting, after a particularly scintilating discussion about spit-up, I asked the other women their professional histories. We were amazed to discover among us 1 Kellogg MBA, 1 PH.D. in psychology, and two masters degrees. "What a lot of education going to waste," we laughed. But then we questioned whether it was wasteful. We were, after all, raising the next generation. Who better qualified to raise our children then ourselves?

Despite my firm belief in that theory, I, and I think my playgroup cohort, would like to find more balance to put our educations and work experience to good use. What a shame for the American work force to have all of that brain power deactivated for years. Two of my playgroup partners have gone back to work part-time and I see how they struggle with the balance. There are sick nannies and sick children and laundry and grocery shopping and sudden urgent work meetings. As a comic strip my former boss, who did seem to have a strong work balance act, had hanging on her cubicle announced, "Part-time Pay, Full-time Work.- The life of the working mommy."