Teachers and Summers!

Photograph by Erika Munz

By Erika Munz
-Dedicated to my dear friend Monica Coash; a teacher who never had a summer off and who was my loudest cheerleader in all endeavors. 

     I’ve been a telemarketer, a stage manager/technician, a preschool teacher, an auditory training technician, and a department store cashier.  (Among other jobs my fifty-five year old brain refuses to acknowledge.)  My favorite was the substitute preschool teaching position, even when the two-year olds whined for their Miss Nancy to return.  (Apparently preschoolers have an aversion to walking in single file.)  All experiences I would have missed if I hadn’t become a teacher and had summers off.  As I sat in my third training this summer,

A Working Mother?

     
   
     There is no role with which I have identified more than that of a working mother.  Like most humans, I’ve carried many labels.  I've been a daughter, sister, student, teacher, friend, and wife.  None has ever defined me as much as being a working mother.  Becoming a mother was a huge role that I wholeheartedly dove into and which did become a major part of my identity.  Going back to work, when my sons started school, thrust me into the role of working mother.  I wore that label like a badge of honor.

No Woman Ever Shot a Man While He Was Doing the Dishes

      First, I must explain that I am not a conventional wife.  I don’t feel obligated to clean the kitchen simply because I am the wife in this situation.  My favorite fridge magnet reads, “No woman ever shot a man while he was doing the dishes.” I do, or did it in this case because I know what it’s like to mow the yard in 100-degree heat and today I opted for the kitchen.  So while cleaning up my air-conditioned kitchen this morning, I realized dishes are a huge part of life. With every important event, there will be dishes.  A child is born or christened; there will be food and dishes to clean.  A wedding; there will be many dishes to buy, as well as dishes to clean.  A death; mourners bring food and then someone will have to do the dishes.  A job is lost, you still need to eat and do dishes. In 1789, when referring to this newborn country, Benjamin Franklin should have said, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Oh, and someone is going to have to do the dishes.” 

Better Late Than Never

     So I am fairly new at this blogging thing, but I thought I would give it a try.  I started a blog years ago, hoping to find like-minded woman, who were mothers getting ready to release their first-born children out into the world, however, I never got too far.  I did have one follower, who visited one time.  Does it count if it was my sister?  I have debated for over a year about what I could blog about.  I mean, I think I can be very entertaining, but that doesn’t mean others will agree.  Lately, I have had much to rant about, so I thought, what about a blog for my rants?  While helping a dear friend with a work blog, we discussed the possibility of my blog and I mentioned I didn’t think people would visit a site just to read the rantings of a fifty-something woman.  She responded that she didn’t know about the blog, but THAT would be a great title, so here I am.