They were women who idolized their children..and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels

When I was a senior in high school, I really loved my English Lit teacher. She was young and newly married and funny and interesting. I pretty much listened to everything she said and took it as gospel. One time she told us about going to the grocery store and watching a mom push her baby in the shopping cart and singing the "ABC's" out loud to try and keep the baby happy. Mrs. Rode told us she would never do that when she had kids and that we should be careful to never lose our identities in our children. I think it had to do with the book "The Awakening." I was right there with her. Wrote it down in my notebook: "Never lose your identity to your children."

And I thought about it today as a pushed a cart with three small children through Randazzo's singing rather loudly, "Lucy Lucy bo Bucy banana fana fo fucy fee fie mo mucy...LUCY! Let's do Genny..."