Desperate to be a Housewife?

Women often reach the juncture in their life when they must decide: career or family? As my 34-year-old sister says, “I chose a career as a lawyer over having my own family. It is a decision I think about all the time.” I bet that it is a decision one would think about and re-think constantly—even after the decision has been made to break the glass ceiling and put off being a wife and mother. Simply, the decision (at least in my sister’s case) is: Have a closet filled with Jimmy Choo shoes, Hugo Boss suits, Louis Vuitton purses, Burberry trench coats, a lucrative career as a criminal defense attorney and money in the bank or have a husband and a small child wake you up at 3 a.m. saying, “Mommy, there is a monster under my bed.?” She chose the former. And, I feel is secretly yearning for the latter.

But you may ask: why can’t a woman have both? The fact remains, having a high profile career and balancing that with pregnancy, marriage and a family is juggling act that not many are qualified to attend to. As my sister says, “I could not imagine having a screaming baby to come home to after I had a long day in court. And, I do not want to rely on a nanny to watch my children—they cannot raise them exactly the way you want them.” Women who do bare the double-burden without outside help, we all want to ask, what super drug are you on? On Wednesday, after a grueling day in class, I headed directly to watch my neighbors 7-month-daughter for three hours. I was so dead tired; the three hours felt more like a lifetime. However, I found comfort in holding this little baby in my hands and realizing how precious children are. Ah…and this is where the thought of becoming a mother really started to infect my mind.

This choice (between a family or a career) looms over my head as I inch closer to graduating from Medill. While my entire mind is one track: get a job, work up the markets and be a television reporter…lately, I have realized, I want to be married, I want to have children and I want that sooner rather than later. While my mom tells me, “There is more to life than marriage,” I try to not hear her. After all, she calls me every week to cry about why she does not have grandchildren yet and only a grandcat (my baby Wooter—a devastatingly handsome Tuxedo cat). So, once again, I am tossing around this question in my head: do I want a career or my own family? I find it unrealistic that I will meet Mr. McDreamy, he will agree to move to Podunk, Idaho (so I can report) and we will live happily ever after. So, inevitably what will happen…I will work my way up (with the grace of God) the ladder of television news and finally meet someone in ten years. But, by that time, will I quit my career to tend to the home…No! No! No! I will need a stay at home dad.

So, am I desperate to be a housewife or desperate to be a television reporter? Only time will tell. But I will dip my feet into the Chicago dating pool to try my hand at finding a boyfriend.