Are you living your life passionately? Or do you feel like you just go through the motions? For this series, guest bloggers will be sharing their passions with us. I hope you are inspired to begin living your life with passion.
I was diagnosed with cancer before my second birthday. Our family doctor caught the tumor very early, and I received a clean bill of health five years later. I was grateful for life, but the experience turned an exceptionally outgoing toddler into a painfully shy child. I found it difficult to transform from a critically ill child into a healthy one - especially the often confusing health of a former cancer patient.
I loved the idea of being a mother - so much so that, at age four, I proclaimed that I would have "at least fifty" children. When I asked doctors about the long-term effects of my experimental chemo treatment, they explained they didn't know. Maybe I could have children, maybe I couldn't.
And so, when my daughter Emma showed up, I fully understood the gift of having a child. She wasn't what people call an "easy" baby - she had day and night fully swapped over when she was born, and she rarely slept more than twenty minutes at a time for her first three months of life. It didn't matter; she was ours, healthy, and wonderfully opinionated and expressive.
Johnny and Lily followed soon after, and I now have the luxury of staying home with our three amazing children. Sometimes people tell me "it's a shame" that I'm not using my Ph.D. in Medicine. I use my Ph.D. every day. I use the lessons it taught me in patience, creativity, and persistence. I know how to research a problem, and I understand that sometimes the best solutions take time.
Being home with my children is my career, and while it may not pay financially, it offers so many rich rewards. Nothing compares to freedom of being there every day of my children's lives. It's wonderful to know that, when my children are sick, I can focus on taking care of them without worrying about a leave of absence from work.
Cancer stole a piece of my childhood. Through parenting I experience childhood in all its health and beauty - with the added appreciation of adult perspective and an amazing husband to share it with. I am passionate about parenting - one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
MaryAnne blogs at Mama Smiles.You'll find her setting goals, playing outside and getting creative with her kids. She
is an incredible inspiration for parenting with purpose.
