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Title On Our Door



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ForeverYoung

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Post Wed, Nov 03 2004, 12:01 am
"Mother"

A few months ago, when I was picking up the children at school, another mother I knew well rushed up to me. Emily was fuming with indignation.
"Do you know what you and I are?" she demanded.
Before I could answer, and I didn't really have one handy, she blurted
out the reason for her question. It seemed she had just returned from
renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office. Asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation, Emily had hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
"What I mean is," explained the recorder, "Do you have a job, or are you just a .....?
"Of course I have a job," snapped Emily. "I'm a mother."
"We don't list 'mother' as an occupation...'housewife' covers it," said the
recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high-sounding title like official Interrogator or Town Registrar.
"And what is your occupation?" she probed.
What made me say it, I do not know. The words simply popped out.
"I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human
Relations."
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair, and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly, emphasizing the most
significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pompous pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in your field?"
Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply,
"I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters (the whole darned family) and already have four credits (all daughters)."
"Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more
like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers
and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money."
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants - ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (6 months) in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt triumphant! I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another mother."

Motherhood...what a glorious career. Especially when there's a title on the door.
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Tefila




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 07 2004, 3:20 am
ForeverYoung
Quote:
And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another mother."

Motherhood...what a glorious career.

how right you are' if we don't hoot our own horn, noone will do it for us.' The most underpaid, underestimated proffession in the world who made these big nobs what they are anyway...MOTHERHOOD AND PROUD OF IT TOO
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RachelSteph




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 06 2004, 12:44 am
all I can say is waw I have to send that to my friend because she is douting the fact that she stays home with her kids because of the pressures of the Vancouver jewish working women. Can I email the story to her?
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ForeverYoung

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Post Tue, Dec 07 2004, 12:16 am
sure!

I didn't write it - got from a friend

fwd to all your friends!

I have it on the wall near my comp.

in all those applications I always check off "other" & write 'mother'

(as a friend of myne said: I am not married to a house!!!)
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chen




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 01 2005, 10:56 am
ForeverYoung wrote:
(as a friend of myne said: I am not married to a house!!!)


Not that it doesn't feel like it at times...
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shanie5




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 01 2005, 4:03 pm
my mom always replied "domestic engineer" when asked what she did for a living.
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