Diploma in hand, husband at my side, cape on my back, I was ready to conquer the world

I’ve been Superwoman for 26 years. Now, I’m getting ready to call it a career and hang up my cape.

Looking back, I can’t say I had a model of a Superwoman like me — running to work every day, leaving the babies behind, juggling home, family, husband, career, yet being there in the morning before the kids went to school, and being home when they got off the bus.

My mom was a Superwoman of a different ilk. She was home for me, waking me up each morning with a “Rise and Shine!” And I never doubted that she would be there for me when I came off the bus in the afternoon.

In between, she baked and she sewed. She gardened and she put new tiles down on the kitchen floor. She volunteered at our school to get a tuition reduction. When I fell off my banana seat bicycle, there was Mom with peroxide, a Band-Aid, tissues, and a kiss. When I tearfully stomped into the house after being bullied on the bus, there was Mom, with freshly baked cookies, tissues, and a kiss.

Yes, my mom was Superwoman.

I remember how mad I was when she went back to work part-time when I was in fifth grade. I came home one day and the door was locked. I’d forgotten my key and had to climb in through the bathroom window. Scraped and bruised, I was angry. How dare she not be home!

But times changed. Somehow it was expected of me to “have a career,” to “be prepared for the worst.” And so, to college and for my master’s I went.

Then, diploma in hand, husband at my side, cape on my back, I was ready to conquer the world.