This is Nicole, she is 44 and has lived most of her life in Central Alberta. She has 5 children ranging from 6-23 in age. She labels herself as “just a Mom”. (I’m going to come back to that in a bit.) She enjoys gardening and spending time with her kids.
Nicole’s hubby works away on the pipeline, which to those who don’t really know, it means he is away for very long stretched of time. Currently he is working out of Kitimat, BC, and wont really be home again for two years! I thought our 10 on 10 off shift was hard to deal with at times when I had a working away husband.
Just a little aside and personal story, my grandpa immigrated to Canada from Portugal, had $10 to his name and didn’t speak any English and ended up making his way across the country to land in Kitimat where he helped to build the aluminum plant there in the ’60’s.
So Nicole says she is “just a Mom” and her reason for doing this project is because she has done nothing for herself since having kids. Every “stay at home mom” has labeled herself as “just a Mom” a some point and when it’s said it’s said with a sense of shame around it. Not that they are ashamed but that it is some how less than. Somehow we feel like we need to be all things or we are somehow less than.
Being a mom is the hardest and most under rewarded job in the world. If you are a mom you know. And when you give yourself up to raising your children you lose “you”. You become your children, your hobbies become your children’s interests. Your thoughts and dreams are for the life of your children. But what we all come to find at some point is we also need to have our own life, our own dreams and hobbies that are just for us. Sometimes when you have been “just a Mom” you don’t know who you are or what you like or what you dream of but at some point your children will leave to live their own lives and you are left wondering at the person in the mirror….”now what?”
It’s important for us women to make sure we take the time to know and allow ourselves to be separate identities from our children, our families. Even if you enjoy every single minute of being just a mom, also you should love every single minute that you get to be just you.
Here is Nicole
Hair and Makeup: Robyn Lynn Makeup Artistry.
