Anybody who knows me knows that I am a fiscal conservative.  (aka “Frugal Fruth”, “Tightwad Tim)  I was struck by a comment I read the other day on Facebook. (Evidently she was asked to take this down by somebody since it no longer appears on FaceBook.)

“This is my granddaughter and her family. She is expecting her second child and has gotten caught up in the Obamacare mess. She can’t get insurance that is affordable. Her husband, Andy, is a hardworking plumber and she has the hardest job in the world, a stay-at-home mom. They are barely making ends meet but still “make a little too much money” for any help. They hate having to ask for help. They really try hard to do it on their own but with the new baby, they just can’t quite do it. Can you help?”

More on this funding request can be found at the following website: http://www.gofundme.com/dqroms On the website of www.gofundme.com you can register to have your friends pay for almost anything including honeymoons.  There are some real legit needs posted on the website including those for people who have been hit hard from cancer and have had tremendous medical bills. If you have watched “Breaking Bad” this is similar to what Walt Jr. tries to do for his dad.

I’m sure many believe that they have the “hardest job in the world” including the President. Being a good mother could be the most important job in the world. (A topic unto itself)   But to simply say that the stay-at-home mother has the hardest job in the world seemed a tad bit too much. How about the mothers who have to work external to the home and somehow have to find the time and the energy to be a great mother? Is that any less hard of a job?

This is in no way meant to disrespect those who have and are able to stay at home with their kids. More power to those families. I think it is great that they have been able to make that choice. (We couldn’t but we did try for awhile). We have friends who have had either the husband or wife staying at home because they had the income and the will to do so. It meant some personal sacrifices for them and they did what they had to do to make it work. Not a thing wrong with that. It is a valid choice and one that I admire. What they didn’t do was ask others to support that lifestyle. They did it on their own and I admire them for that. We would have if we could have.

I know mothers like, my mother, Geri, who had to work and still be a mother. My wife, Carolyn, my sister, Kathryn, (also a single mother) my mother-in-law, Carol, my boss Kathy, my previous boss’s wife Sylvia, my wife’s co-workers and friends who are mothers (Ashlee, Michelle, Cindy, Janet, Deborah, Mary, and so on as I could add hundreds of names of people I personally know) somehow had to be great mothers, great wives, (you see I snuck that one in) and at the same time help provide for the family by working in a career. Even the local Payson doctor that delivers babies is back to work after having her own daughter three short months ago. That seems pretty hard to me.

I know my kids are grateful for what a great mother they have had and they have never, ever complained about Carolyn not staying at home with them.  My point being is we did what we had to do. That is a hard and difficult job.

So all you mothers who work your butt off doing what you do whether you stay at home or have to leave home to work and yet find the time to be great mothers, you have my admiration, my thoughts and my prayers.