"When I grow up, I want to be a mother...."

Late sunday evening, we were driving home from my parents house. It's not a long drive, a little over an hour, but it's long enough that twenty minutes before we got home, I found myself climbing in to the back of the minivan to entertain Henry, and comfort Lucy, and reposition a sleeping Sam. I squeezed my ummm, rather endowed nether regions in to the small space between Sam and Lucy's booster seats and set to making sock puppets out of Jordan's dirty socks so that Henry wouldn't scream the entire way home. Because every once in a while, life doesn't HAVE to be hard, in a matter of minutes, Henry found his thumb and sucked away quietly, Jordan, having mercy on my gadonkadonkiness moved to the front seat with his Dad, and I found myself sitting in the vacant captains chair, with three quiet, peaceful children around me. Have you ever realized how much room there actually is in the back of a minivan? Yay Honda.

So I'm basking in the peace that is a rare moment of quiet when I hear Lucy, sitting directly behind me singing softly to herself. I lean back, hoping she doesn't realize I'm listening, and try to listen to the words. It isn't hard to make out. She's singing a song that I grew up singing... "When I grow up, I want to be a mother..." It's from a collection of songs called, Songs for a Mormon Child... it's nestled nicely on the remade disk of 1970's classics, in between "I'm a Mormon, Yes I am!" and "Got a dime in my pocket" (that one's about paying tithing).

I've heard it said that such a song is nothing short of indoctrination... brain washing for our children. What of it? I grew up singing it... if it was that brainwashing that inspired me to grow up and love being a mother, well then, I thoroughly enjoyed the cleaning. Don't get me wrong... the lyrics are a bit cheesy...

"When I grow up, I want to be a mother,
And have a family, one little, two little, three little babies of my own
Of all the jobs, for me I'll choose no other! I'll have a family
Four little, five little, six little babies in my home."

(and now for the best part...)

"And I will love them all day long, and give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons. (I know, I know) And cuddle them when things go wrong, and read them stories and sing them special tunes... Oh, Oh, Oh!!!!"

Okay, you get the gist of it. Trust me. It's very sweet when a four year old is singing. I listened to her little voice as she danced through the lyrics... she will be an excellent mother one day. Of that I am certain. My attention turned back to the words when I noticed them changing.. she was adding her own words - her own activities and details about what she would do when she was a mother. Then I hear her sing,

"When I grow up, I want to be a mother... and I will DO anything, and I will BE everything, when I'm a mother..."

Right on, sister. Right on.