They Call the Wind Mariah

March 27, 2005 : 6:53 p.m.
Changes

Happy Easter!

In 3 months, I will be free. Free to be just a mom. Just a wife. Just. And I am so happy to be 'just'. I have been everything but 'just' the mom and wife for a long time. I have been 'Riah', the daycare provider for most of the past 6 years of my life. That is all but about a year of my daughter's life.

Don't get me wrong...I am unbelievably grateful to have even had the chance to stay home with my daughter, and watch her grow. Daycare was a choice I made that enabled me to be a stay-at-home mom, even if I had to share my days and my attention with others, and it is something I will always be thankful for.

And I will miss my "kids"...I have had all of the girls that I have right now (5, 3.5 and 2) since they were just babies. They are a part of me, and I hope that I can keep a connection with them after July 1st. The next few months will be hard. But, the end result is worth it. I will no longer be on someone else's timeclock - getting up at 6 a.m.; on someone else's schedule - not knowing what days I am watching whom from week to week. I will be able to concentrate on my family...and for once, me.

We are leaving for vacation (thanks to my wonderful parents who are taking us along with them!) to Florida on July 2nd. What a vacation. And a celebration. It will mark the transition, a huge change that is about to take place in my life...I will leave from vacation having just finished a week of caring for other peoples children...and come back to never having my doorbell ring at 6 a.m. again.