Can you give your 10 year old self a high-five?

When I was a little girl and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was always the same thing: A teacher and a mom (which happen to be almost the same thing in many instances.) 
Well...now here I am - all grown up.  What am I?  A mom and a teacher - just not the way I pictured. 

I became a mom at 24, then again at 26 and most recently at 35.  Being a mom is the absolute best thing in the world!!  Literally, I can't imagine anything that could top it!  And I have an amazing imagination!  Mommy-hood has its ups and downs just like any other thing in the world - but the highs absolutely trump the lows! 

The Lows: Being stuck at home all day because it makes no sense to go to work every day just to pay daycare, Eating another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Having to spray the driveway down with water again to remove the chalk, Having little ones underneath your feet while you are trying to make dinner, Not having the time to work out because you are too busy at home being a mom, the list goes on.

The Highs: Being at home all day with the most important tiny things in the world and not missing a giggle, Eating another PB & J (who doesn't like PB & J!), spending an hour outside in the driveway creating a chalk Masterpiece for the whole neighborhood to see (and taking tons of pictures to scrapbook later!), watching your little ones "test" spaghetti, while you are cooking dinner, to see if it really is done (and yes it is true that it will stick to the cabinet door when its ready to eat!),  collapsing in bed at night because you are so tired from flying the (Super)baby around to save the world and playing freeze tag in the backyard with the older ones), the list goes on and on and on and on and on. :)

No contest - The Highs win every time.

So obviously my childhood dream of being a mom came true - but what about a teacher?  Well that just comes hand in hand with being a mom!  I get to teach my children things everyday like the value of a true friendship, how sharing is the opposite of selfish, how to do addition and subtraction, and why we can't have a pet giraffe in the back yard - although that would be kind of cool.

So yes - I can look back at myself at 10 and give myself I high-five!  I did what I set out to do - just in a different way. Now I just pray that I nurture my children so that when they are all grown up the can look back in time and high-five their 10 year old selves. That is definitely the plan. :)