January 15, 2008 | Mama Smith

the job and race season

Due to the inflexibility of life with small children, I nixed the interior design field for now. Hopefully to be picked up in a few years down the road when the boys are in school and I’m sitting at home bored out of my mind, ready to get back into a more serious work world.

For now, I just landed a job as a very part-time life guard at the local Y. And will hopefully start teaching swim lessons in a few weeks as well. My hours will mostly be early mornings before the family has risen, and since they’ll be spent in or around the newly built pool opening in a few weeks…I don’t think I’ll mind the early wake-up call. Swimming is one of the very few things in life I’ve ever dragged myself out of bed before 7am for.

Being almost “baby-free” (just a few more weeks before we have two toddlers instead) has been a great sigh of relief for Matthew and I. I have been pregnant or nursing continually since November of 2004 and I am very, very ready to be done with that all, for now at least. We’re finally finding our long, lost rhythm, or rather fashioning a new one as a family of four. And as we get in the groove, I think we’re all realizing how thankful we are for a little bit of normalcy in our lives again. I know, it probably won’t last for long with the way things go around here though.

But for now, I’m enjoying being somewhat more settled, especially with triathlon season around the corner. After triathlon one, during my pregnancy with Levi, being interrupted halfway through the swim due to a ruptured ovary and triathlon two being canceled due to our move to South Carolina, I am ready to finally get some under my belt. So ready, I’ve anxiously signed up for the Clemson one in May, the Atlanta one (with Marcie, woo-hoo!) in June, the Asheville one in July and the Greenville one in August.

I know, seasoned triathletes would rebuke me for the scattered schedule, but after three years of fast-paced baby mommying, I think it’s time for me to re-engage the aspects of the pre-mommy Amy who really loved to be outdoors and play hard. Running with my friend Rosie yesterday, I realized how much I missed having a goal other than getting a baby to sleep through the night or not breaking a toe on stray toys throughout the day.

There are many seasons in our life. I know I will miss some more than others (I know many of you may not agree and may be mortified, but I will most definitely not miss the baby years!). No, I am not ready to give up motherhood, but I am deeply desirous of maintaining my own sense of self in the midst of it and remembering who it is Christ has made me – just simply Amy – to be. Not Amy, Brighton & Levi’s Mom or Amy, Matthew’s wife, but most importantly Amy, His precious, uniquely created daughter.