This photo is from 1987 - I am pregnant with Noah in this shot. The small children in the photo are the two Hannah's, Hester, Eliza, and Phoebe up in the tree - the nasty Chinese elm that made everyone sneeze and made the yard dirty too. But it was good for climbing.
I spent a lot of years mothering small and not so small children. And then I spent a number of years with young adult children away from home and small children at home. For periods of time I was pregnant or nursing a baby. Except for a few odd jobs - subbing in the registrar's office at the U during registration, being an election judge in Utah, and babysitting children - I did not work outside of the home.
Those years were long and full of activity, stress, work, pleasure, sorrow, joy, friendship, late nights, and early mornings. Early on, at least before Phoebe was born, I even went back to school and started doing graduate work in Children's Literature. And when Phoebe was in school, I also did some course work for an Early Childhood Credential. I didn't finish either one of them.
When Noah was in school, I started working in Harry's office. I have never been a fan of office work, so when the opportunity came to substitute teach, I jumped at the chance. After 4 years of subbing, a permanent half-time teaching position became available. I enjoyed this job for 2 years and then went full-time. Being a permanent teacher meant that I had to complete a teaching credential, so I found myself once more in school. Usually from 4 to 10 at night - several nights a week, for several years. I was also a ward Young Women President during this time - that was crazy-busy, but since Hannah and Eliza were in Young Women and Harry was the bishop, we just brought Noah along and called it family time. It worked.
We are empty-nesters now - and have been for several years. I am still teaching. Most of the teachers I started out working with at the middle school where I teach have retired. I am old enough to be just about everyone's mother. The mothering years have been supplanted by the grandmothering years, but there's a difference - and that's another post in and of itself.
My point here is that the years since I had small and not-so-small children to care for have been replaced by years of working at a job and enjoying our adult children and our growing grandchildren. The years are long and full of activity, stress, work, pleasure, sorrow, joy, friendship, late nights, and early mornings.
And I'm taking a required class on Wednesday nights from 4 to 7 - it started in January - ends in June.
Is there a pattern here?
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