Kevin and I were at the post office a few weeks ago jumping through the necessary hoops in order to get a U.S. Passport. We had our photos taken, and then sat across a table from our "interviewer". We had previously filled out the appropriate forms and just needed to turn in the suggested personal identification and have the "interviewer" sign the paperwork. Since we had filled out the forms on the Internet, each blank space required some sort of filler. Kevin had no problem filling his out, but when I came to the blank space that read: Occupation I tabbed over it, only to find out that Occupation required filling. In a rush I typed Stay At Home Mom. As the "interviewer" looked over my paper work she said to me, "Stay at home mom? Wow."
It wasn't, "WOW!!". It was more like, "wow.", with an accompanying, but ever so slight, eye roll.
Feeling embarrassed I added, "It wouldn't let me leave the space blank". In which she responded, "I think it's great. I respect that.", which I knew was a complete lie due to the slight eye roll just moments before.
It's been bothering me ever since that day. But what's bothering me isn't what she said, but that I was embarrassed about my answer. I am in no way embarrassed that I'm a stay at home mom. Not at all. So why did I let her get to me like that?
I wanted to post about it, but couldn't, and still can't, find the words to articulate how I feel about it. Amazingly, Laurel (at The Tea Party Place--and the mother of a beautiful 8 year old girl that Treyson has a teeny, tiny crush on) addressed this exact subject on her blog. I'm going to post the links for you to read because they say exactly what I would have, had I been able to put the thoughts into words.
Thank you, Laurel, for putting into words what I couldn't. I agree, wholeheartedly!
2 comments:
Hey! You've gone public. I've never been able to see your blog before. I kept wondering who this lewishappening.blogspot.com was, and imagine my surprise when I linked over today and saw that it was you! And then on top of it, this post! I am so sorry that happened to you. I hate that we are living in a world where motherhood is so belittled. It is mindblowing to me that we have "liberated" ourselves out of motherhood. Isn't that crazy??? But this post made me feel like my posts of late are just crazy rants. So thank you.
And may I just add, that Treyson is such a sweet boy that it is a compliment that he might have a teeny crush on my Logan. Maybe that means she is nice, too. :0)
I copied and pasted your thoughts onto my blog today, giving you credit of course. I hope you don't mind. And I would be happy to link your blog to it, but I just wasn't sure you would want any traffic that was unfamiliar to you coming by. Considering your blog was private for so long, I thought that might be unwelcome.
If you don't mind, let me know and I'll set up the link.
I just thought your experience was so telling that I had to share it. Thanks so much for your vote of confidence.
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