Glamour Mom

When I was delivering Doodlebug, my obstetrician's cell phone rang a couple of times. His ringtone/song or whatever it is called these days is the James Bond 007 theme song. I had forgotten about this, but Daniel brought it up again yesterday. I thought of it again this morning. I could just see Dr. A on a secret 007 mission or him thinking that he was on one. I mean, he went from delivering one baby straight into my room to deliver my baby, and as he entered my room, this funky music started playing. It was just funny to see him enter the room with covert music beginning to play. I began to think that he sorta has a glamorous job. He gets to be on a mission and deliver babies and "save the day."

When I was little, I liked mysteries and spies and thought maybe I could be a detective or lawyer and solve cases like Matlock, Perry Mason, Nancy Drew, or the Sweet Valley High Twins (they were my favorite!). There is a small part of me that likes to be sneaky. I probably had a million and one dreams of different things I could be, but this was a pretty intriguing idea back in the olden day.

In general, I am not someone who likes to be in the spotlight. As I've gotten older, the spotlight has bothered me less. After all I blog and I seek readership of my blog, which tends to put you in the spotlight. But, if you can imagine the quietest, shyest person you've ever known, I was that girl in the past and still have tendencies toward her. :) I step out of my comfort and share for the glory of God, hopefully.

Anyhow, even though I never liked the spotlight, I did make good grades, and one does not make good grades and try to be the best without hoping to be recognized as the best. So I did like recognition and being in the spotlight for a moment (as long as the light shone on me and I didn't have to talk).

I grew up and forgot most of my childhood desires of things to be when I grew up like detectives on secret missions, and instead, I became an engineer, which was not anything I had ever dreamed and was not a glamorous "dream job" either. In college, I felt called to missions. There is a lot of glamour and appeal and on occasion recognition in being a missionary. Maybe this is partly why it appealed to me. But though I waited, God did not send me down that road of glamour (I'm still waiting though). In many jobs, there can a small amount of glamour and a small amount of recognition. So whatever glamour I had as a civil engineer who occasionally oversaw drill rigs, played in the dirt, wrote reports, and made recommendations, I gave up when I decided to become a stay at home mommy.

There is very little glamour in motherhood. I have yet to hear about the red carpet rolled out for the mommy awards in Mommywood. My kids are very rarely going to thank me for disciplining them and making them do and learn things they really do not want to learn and do. As the parent, there is rarely anyone else standing on the sidelines completely cheering me on driven by the same desires and opinions. I will rarely, if ever, be wearing fancy gowns and traveling to exotic places. In fact, my wardrobe may include baby spit up, dirt, food, pee-pee, and poop from whatever secret mission my little ones have been on during their day.

But, mommyhood is a dangerous job. It requires creativity and sneakiness and covert operations. It requires investigations and solving mysteries - the mystery of who your child is, what drives them, and how can you get them to be who God wants them to be. God has given you the clues, you get to solve the mysteries. You get to be your own 007 agent. You might be blessed like me and have a cute little husband to help you along the way. I hope you are. If not, as a single mom, your assignment is even more treacherous. Every day I get to save the day - if only with a kiss, a special treat, a hug, or a kind word. I'm a secret agent too, and I was thinking of making the James Bond 007 theme song MY theme song too. I may not get recognized, but this girl has got secret glamour too. And as a mommy, so do you!

"You will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:24