My Resume is Unimpressive

After 13 years of staying home and being a non-paycheck-working mom, I am trying to join the world of the get-a-paycheck-working mom. I have been digging up diplomas and trying to remember and list any accomplishments over the past decade or so. I did lots of important things and was in lots of clubs in high school and college. I directed musicals in my early teaching career.  But as I look back over the past 12 baby-bearing years, there are not too many things I can write on my resume that really seem “important” enough to look good on paper.  I struggle with not being able to put “mom” on my resume.  Why is there not a line for that?  I think I have done some pretty hard, note-worthy things being “just a mom.” 

In fact, there are some things I would LIKE to list on my resume that I feel are pretty darn big accomplishments, but I fear they won’t seem all that important to my prospective employers.

A few Stand-Out Accomplishments:

• Stayed at home with four boys over  a 12 1/2 year span and I am not completely insane
• I can change a diaper with my eyes closed in a matter of seconds
• Wrestled and helped put a calf in my minivan
• Picked up & buried a headless chicken carcass buzzing with big green flies
• Potty trained four boys (one of them was a truly a miracle)
• Carried possums and raccoons in the trunk of my minivan
• Taught my kids Reading, Math, Science, English, Bible, & Social Studies
• Went to war with a family of bats living in my garage and came away victorious
• Plan and organized schedules, food, clothes, & laundry  for a family of 6
• Can herd cows on foot, on a bicycle, or with my van
• Retrieved a Pull-up deeply embedded in a full toilet of poop without calling a plumber

By the world’s standards, my accomplishments are pretty unimportant. Sometimes even by my standards, I see myself the same way.  Am I making my mark on the world? Am I doing great things like they challenged me to do at my graduations?

 “Dream big dreams.”      “Your mountain is waiting, now be on your way.” 

The only mountain I have climbed lately is Mount Laundry, looming large and frightful on my love seat.  The only dream I have had recently is to be by myself in the bathroom without someone coming in to ask me a question or tattle.  The past decade has been full of breast feeding,  cheerios, laundry, dishes, diapers, potty training, endless lists,  supporting Clint’s career with the BHS band, and always some form of poop.

            Normal person- “Hi. So, what have you been up to?”

Me- “Oh, just scrubbed the entire bathroom today because after my kid pooped in the toilet, he thought it would be a good idea to “clean” his poop with the toilet bowl brush and spread it all over the toilet, the lid, and the walls.  So what about you?"

Normal person- Throws up in their mouth a little & runs away yelling, “Gotta get back to work!”

The truth is, when I look at myself and my accomplishments from the world’s standards, they will always fall short. I really don’t mind that I have not been forging my own path & winning awards in a "real" career.  I feel like I have done what God called me to do in this season of my life- raise some boys, love my husband, & teach some teenagers about God's love.  That has been my passion and the career I gladly chose.  Do I look down on others who have had a different career and have had plaques, promotions, and accomplishments? No. I am proud of them and their hard work and the credentials they have earned . I cannot compare my path to the paths of others because we have been called to wonderfully different things.

I saw this quote a few months ago and it is a reminder to me that in this part of my life, I have done, though not always well, what I felt God called me to do.

“The plain fact is that the world does not need more successful people, but it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.” – David Orr

I think I may make a few new lines on my resume for peacemaker, healer, restorer, storyteller, and lover.  I have truly learned a lot during the first "mom years" part my life.  It has been hard, beautiful, fun, difficult, joyous, challenging, wonderful, and adventure-filled. I am a little scared and a lot excited about what God has in store for me in this next leg of the journey. So although my paper resume is pretty unimpressive, on my real life resume, I think I am doing just fine.


Amy

God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful.

-Mother Teresa