I’m a mom and I get to be Mom full time. It’s a privilege and a blessing, and I appreciate this opportunity every day. Some days I only appreciate it for a brief moment, when the kids are asleep, but I do appreciate it every day.
I would be a big, fat liar if I told you that motherhood fulfills me every day in every way. I think motherhood is a noble calling, and no matter how you slice it – if you’re at home full time, working outside the home, working from home, working full time, part time, or some combo of all of the above – mothering is still your primary, full-time job.
As with any job, though, it’s only a piece of the whole. I have other aspirations, some that I’ll put on hold until my kids are older, some that I am working on now. Having dreams and goals is really important to me. Being a mother informs everything I do, but it’s not the only facet of my life informing my decisions. I’m multi-faceted, people!
God willing, I’ll be around LONG after my children have grown up (I really pray that’s the case, because I want to live long enough to annoy and embarrass them on a regular basis. For many years. It’s only fair.). I don’t want to wake up one day to an empty house and no idea what to do with myself. So I will continue to plug away at my goals in whatever quantity and quality that I can squeeze in between diaper changes, car pools and baby snuggles. I will continue to fantasize about my dream jobs. The line between fantasy and reality is fuzzy, at best, and I’m going to be ready should they ever blur completely.
I wonder, what’s your dream job? Do you already have your dream job, and if so, how did you achieve it? Still not quite sure? What steps are you taking to get there?
Read about my crazy ideas, below, and then tell me what you want to be when you grow up.
My number one dream job shifts depending on which day you ask me (I’m not deterred in the least that nobody has, in fact, asked me). I realize that some of these could become reality if I decided to work really hard at achieving a particular goal. I also realize that some of these are delusional-to-the-point-of-needing-meds. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions about which ones fall into which category.
In alphabetical order, because that seems to be the most fair and balanced approach:
Broadway Star
Humor Columnist
Novelist
Nutritionist
Olympic Swimmer
Physical Therapist
Radio DJ
Television Historian
Television Writer, circa 1950-1978. I’m talking Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows; or hanging out with Rob, Buddy & Sally on the Dick Van Dyke Show (Don’t call in the meds yet. I do know it was not a documentary & that Rob, Buddy & Sally are merely characters – I just want a job like theirs); or The Carol Burnett Show.
Television Writer, circa today
TV Blogger, a la Kristin Dos Santos
Um, yeah, so I have an obsession with television, apparently. Even I wasn’t completely aware of how severe an obsession until just now.
Lapsed homemaker. Looking to hire a full-time housekeeper who will work for the sheer joy of a job well done and free coffee. Interested parties, DM please. 
It is SO fun to think about what our dream jobs would be!! Mine is definitely a travel writer of some sort or another. I’m still convinced that the Travel Channel should fire Samantha Brown and have me host the show.
Either that or Chris Harrison’s job on the Bachelor. I’d be awesome at Rose Ceremonies!
I’ve always envied Samantha Brown’s job, too! A travel-related job would be fabulous – when the time comes to focus on life-after-mothering, you should go for it!
I would think that television historian would something you could make a living on. You could write coffee table books with very little text and lots of epic photos.
Me, you ask? I would like to continue being a journalist, which I am right now, but I would like to write about something I care about, which I don’t right now. Now I write about the automotive industry. I would like to write–or better yet, have a public radio show–about human sexuality. Not like an advice column, but beat reporting on human sexuality as an offshoot of a health beat, or something like that. And of course, I’d have a blog about it, too.
Hmm.. Dream job? That would have to be doing something noble but at the same time making scads of money so I could live the lifestyle to which I can very easily become accustomed.
I want Oprah’s job. And her money.
Wow – I am SO greedy today!
Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by my blog and for your comments. Much appreciated!
Dream job for me (when I was younger) would be a professional dancer.
Dancing With the Stars, the blogger season? 😉
That’s such a good question. I’m a social worker. I work as a casework for the mentally retarded. I love what I do, but is it my dream job? I’m not sure. I’d love to be a SAHM but finances don’t permit that right now. I’m grateful to have a job but some days I wonder if I’m really making a difference.
Stopping by from SITS to say hello!
Andrea, thank you for doing what you do! That is such an important job – you are absolutely making a difference.
Totally off topic, but reading your blog has quickly become one of the highlights of my day. If I get less work done than I should, it’s because I’ve chosen to be entertained by you instead of all those other things I should be doing. When some fancy newspaper or magazine discovers your talent and you choose Annie Liebovitz to do your next set of family photos, tell her I said hello. And help her post bail.
Robin, thanks! You made my day. And you will always be our family photographer!!
Your TV obsession makes perfect sense, trust me. It’s because you are a mom and sometime TV is the only escape. Why was Aaron Spelling so successful? Because he sold escape, he sold us stuff that took us away from our own lives and having to think for a little while. It’s what we all want to do, especially moms, not think for like 5 seconds!!! I hear ya, babe.
I don’t know what I want to do. I was a TV writer. It’s what I wanted to do. Didn’t like it. I’m now a cookbook writer, it’s what I wanted to do, don’t love it. I think the minute you take things you love and then turn them into work you have to do, something gets lost. Oh my god, I sound like a jerk…I’m obviously just a completely unfufilled person. Right now, I dig hanging with my kids the most. Though they drive me completely insane sometimes. I’ll just figure out the rest later. You? You’re doing great! Sorry for spewing…I don’t know where that came from. Your post really got to me, that’s good.
Thanks for swinging by and making my SITS day so wonderful. Your time and words mean the world to me.
Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma What’s For Dinner
http://www.mawhats4dinner.com
Love that you were able to admit that there is more to your life than motherhood. I feel the same way. I think it is fun to think about dream jobs These are mine: Novelist (working on that right now!), Photographer, Physician, Actress (just for a day).
What a great post! I often feel the same way; I don’t want to be stuck home after my boys have grown up and have forgotten who I am. Dream job? That is hard. I would love to be an Event Planner in Hollywood or something fun like that.
i love this!!!! i have 4 girlies and am a SAHM after a big career…i love my photography business and i think i would go full time with it and get some magic too so i can be perfect and all. stopping in from SITS!!!
You can’t be on Broadway WITHOUT ME! OK so after that Matt always says I should figure out a way to make my tv obcession a job so definately TV critic…followed by probably my real dream job:
Personal Shopper – but only for my friends – and maybe their friends and only if they are OK with making all of the purchases and I mean EVERYTHING online. If these don’t work out I’d like to have one of the fake job that the girls on the Hills pretend to have doing premiere and launch parties…but I don’t want to have to LIVE in L.A. Think that MIGHT be a problem.
I love all the comments on this post! It’s great to hear about your dream jobs. I think we’re going to do this again in a year and see if anyone has a new dream job or has achieved a current dream.
I was thinking that Top Chef might be another dream job (without having to work my way up, starting as a dishwasher – laziness strikes again), but then tonight’s dinner disaster reminded me that I will never, ever, ever be a chef. 🙂
Thanks again everyone for visiting and sharing your own dreams!