I have been longing to write, but my previous blog was too personal to continue, and I feared the stories were invasive of my family's privacy. But the desire to write about home and family relationships demands an outlet, if even to sort out the reasons for my career choice or perhaps better stated..what I believe to be my calling...what I hope to accomplish with my life.
I remember the first time I wanted to be a writer, it was in first grade and I was chosen to participate in a young writers workshop and present a story I had written. Then somewhere in junior high I wanted to be a psychologist. I wanted to help kids and families. But my deepest and most lifelong desire was to be a wife and mother. I always imagined that as part of my life. I played it out with my dolls and my imaginary husband whose name was always John...not a premonition as I am happily married to a Tod.
But I did end up becoming what is known in Michigan as a Limited Licensed Psychologist...that is a psychologist with a masters degree, as opposed to a fully licensed psychologist with a doctorate. I do remember my undergrad professors urging me to get a doctorate rather than a masters degree. They warned me that I might not go back for my PhD once I got busy with family life. They didn't understand that family life appealed to me more than academia.
I did go to grad school and get the Masters Degree, but wouldn't you know it, met my future husband there and settled down rapidly into the family life I always wanted, abandoning a career just as it was beginning to bud for babies. I personally couldn't have done both. The babies were demanding enough of all of me I couldn't imagine having anything left over for anything else besides my family. And that is perhaps very much a reflection of my own limitations..I am amazed at moms who have a huge capacity to handle so much...I did only what I knew I could do well. During that time I did dabble in writing, had a few things published online or in small publications. Mostly my writing centered around family. Though I worked a bit very part time around my children's schedule, I didn't go back to my career until my youngest went to school and then only part time, and found myself working with families, counseling and teaching parenting and premarital courses. Everything centering around the same theme...family dynamics, family relationships, strengthing, helping encouraging families. All of my earliest desires speak to that theme and it seems to be central to the very reason I was put on this earth...so this blog will be not so much about my family but about families..what I am learing along the way.
