Luxury?

When I think of the word "luxury" I think of thick fur coats. A yacht. Maybe silverware that matched and cups without lids. Closets with enough space that my sheets fit like they do when Martha shows me how to fold them. Not jammed in there with the washcloths, place mats and a humidifier.

I don't think of being a stay at home mom as a luxury.

I heard this comment from a woman on the news who was returning to work as an attorney. She stayed at home for 11 years and now has 2 children in college and 2 still at home. She said in these economic times she was giving up some luxuries and that staying home was the one that had to go. I don't fault her for her returning to work. It is something I would like to do as well. And with 2 in college and 2 more to put through I certainly see where it would be a need. What I have been pondering is the term "luxury" in reference to staying at home.

And if it is not a luxury then what is it?

Luck? Priority? Need?

After mulling this word over in my mouth and heart i decided Need was it. Especially after the appearance of Stephanie Nielsen on Oprah this week. Find someone with DVR who has it and watch it. (I just found this link to Stephanie's lesson on being a mom from Oprah.)

Because besides being a plane crash victim who's life was changed forever in an instant, she is a stay at home mom and what gets her through the day is the stay at home stuff.

So I have been pondering my own stay at home stuff. And ultimately my needs.

I need to stay at home to get Carter to Jazz Band in the morning, the lunches made, a family prayer said and occasionally a scripture read. I need to wake Olivia up to smell her sweet baby smell that still lingers for those few seconds in the mornings from her warm bed. I need to laugh at Ethan as he comes downstairs with yet another outfit that he insists matches. And I need to send him back up to try again.

I need to be home when Olivia asks me to tape toilet paper on her bum to be a tail because she is a puppy. I need to snuggle with her and the cat as she tries to dress us both in dish towels as our long princess hair. I need to eat the play dough cookies and get out the paint shirt and brushes and tape up the masterpieces on the kitchen wall for Dad to see.

I need this.

To not have this would kill me. To not give my all to these kids would kill me. (not the house, mind you...I have UNO cards trailing down the stairs, laundry in every room in various stages of "done-ness" and no dinner in the oven...oh and strips of toilet paper from unsuccessful tail attachment all over the house. But no crumbs on the floor- I have a dog!)