The working mom in the USA…

My mother was/is a working mom. She has been working for the same company for the last 35 years and I have seen her succeed over and over all this time. We (my brother and me) were put in day care as babies and we grew up knowing that mommy and daddy work 8-5, five days a week and both jobs were important. I came to the United States for my college education, found my other half and settled here. Two years ago my working mom life started. The first months were rough, tiring, exhausting and yes gratifying. I think the first 6 months are mostly a blur between working full time, breastfeeding (expressing) and keeping up with baby, husband and the house. One find day among the chaos I realized the working mom I became was FAR DIFFERENT from the working mom I grew up knowing and specially the working mom that my childhood friends have become back home. My mother yes did it all. She worked hard and took care of us, she brought us to the doctor when we were sick, made sure we had our homework done and had all the school supplies we needed, made sure there was food in the table three times a day, did not miss one school play BUT she also had a maid and when we were young a nanny. So in my country working moms do not have to come home and clean or cook, or do laundry. You wake up in the morning and breakfast is in the table and comeback to the house and dinner is ready. You have nannies (if more than one kid probably you will have more than one nanny plus the maid). Not here, No way. The working mom in USA is an amazing woman who literally has a “to do list” longer than “a Christmas wishing list!”. Every time I have family members or friends over they always seem so overwhelmed that I am able to do it with just my husband as my team member (and an amazing mother-in-law who is our only family member close by) and sometimes it will hit me… I grew up thinking that I would have a person waiting for me to just give directions and have everything “ready”. But when I look at the “working mom” in my country and I see me (us), I see a mom that on her day out from work takes her two year old to do errands for hours without anyone but herself, a diaper bag with plenty wipes, lots of hand sanitizer and peanut butter cookies and at the end of the day when I am ready to call it a day the feeling of accomplishment put the last smile of day in my face.