Mother Label

Another round of mommy wars

Stretching women

Into rehashed dichotomies.

Remember virgin/whore?

Now try stay-at-home mom/working mom.

The comparison is

The need

For a dichotomy

To divide women

To label women

To tell women what is right

And wrong

Or wrong

And right.

Have you noticed

It keeps men

And the economy

Out of the picture?

Go on.

Label me!

I was a stay-at-home mom

For six hardworking years.

Now here’s my label:

PRIVILEGED

I chose to be

A stay-at-home mom

I have a husband

Who brings in a salary

We planned

Our three children.

We lived in a nice apartment

With three kids

Sharing one room

In a good neighborhood

With family close by

Supporting us.

And if I had gone out to work

My salary would have covered

The childcare.

I had choices

I am privileged

And grateful.

Now I'm a work-at-home mom

Still privileged

With choices

And the opportunity

To build up my business.

“But what do you do?”

I'm often asked

I explain

And they don’t understand.

I exist outside the dichotomy.

Hard to label.

Still in their eyes

A stay-at-home mom

Spending hours

On the computer

Rather than

Housewife

Chores.

They don’t see

The juggling,

My efforts,

The light of my computer screen

In the early hours

As I work harder

Than ever before

Fitting it all

In.

And yet

Still privileged

And grateful

Rejecting

The dichotomy

Ignoring

Other people’s labels

Because

They don’t

Define

ME.