Today is the day after we arrived home from the mountains. It's a Monday. But it's not just any Monday. It's a very special, and historic Monday in my family.
Today is the day that two of my daughters, both recently mothers, go back to full time employment and school after having been home with their babies for the past few months.
It's a courageous thing that they are doing. Jenny is going back to teaching full time, and Jackie is beginning Law School full time. And besides all the accolades they deserve for multitasking, and making it all work for their families, that's not what they were thinking about today.
Today they were missing their babies, feeling misty that they had to leave the nest for the first time since the little ones were born.
I honor the choice that they have made -- though I would have honored whatever they believed was best for their family.
I remember like it was yesterday, crying in the car on the way to work, when I went back to work full time after my maternity leave was up, and I had to leave my first born in the care of a nanny.
I know that women make different choices than this. Some choose to stay home with their children. And I honor that choice as well. But this was the right choice for me and my family despite my initial tears when I had to leave my Jenny for the first time. And I was judged for having made that choice, when I was one of the only women professionals at my place of work that had children at home.
Nonetheless, I forged ahead, because I knew that my being in the workforce made me a more whole, more complete woman, and a happier person. And that could only have been good for my daughters.
I am proud of each one of my daughters, every day. But I am especially proud today -- when they set out to become their own persons, and the best mothers that they can be.