Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My Own Mama Manual

By Mimi Hecht
(Written for www.alefnext.com)


"I would take motherhood and learn not only to love it, but rock it."


I’m not going to lie. I used to think being a mom was for losers. Or, better yet, that you become a loser. Sure, baring offspring is an essential and rewarding part of life as we know it, but who really wants to trade in their vintage-leather handbag for a diaper bag? Who actually invites the selflessness it all demands? Come on. Spit-up? Early rising? Oh, and not to mention my one biggest fear growing up: child labor.
As much as I always knew I wanted to raise a family, I looked to the future imagining I would be forfeiting my personality, self-expression, time and, oh, just about everything else I love about life. It’s not that I feared that I wouldn’t love my kids. And, growing up as one of seven kids, I saw the beauty in a large brood. But, to say the least, I didn’t idolize, nor anticipate taking on, the image of the self-sacrificing, raggedy Jewish mother that was so often praised.
Luckily, my very own first birth taught me that my happiness and confidence as a mother would be in my own hands.

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