Mommies Are People, But Am I A Grownup?

On our drive this weekend to visit my parents and to celebrate my sister's birthday, my children and I listened to the "Free to Be You and Me" soundtrack.   The close-quarters of being in the minivan enabled me to ponder this song, and I started thinking about how it has poignantly come full-circle.

there is a YouTube video  here, so if you get this in an email link you might need to click through to the wholephamily.com website itself to see this video link

Like so many children of my generation, I grew up listening to this record.
I picked it up again in college and then started thinking of its message that all people can be whomever they choose to be.  I doubt my mom ever read Ms. Magazine cover-to-cover like I did in 2004 while nursing Conealed Light in New Haven (I have been told I need to clarify that Ms. is pronounced mizz, and it was part of the foundation that backed this record), but she knew the good stuff and Free To Be You and Me was it in the 70s.

When I was little, I was the girl listener, envisioning all of the mommies and daddies and all the things they can do.  And now I am the mama.  And while I haven't become a professional baker, doctor, or funny joke-teller, I have done a lot of things so far.

This song sends the message that parents can and should shoot for the moon.  And that college isn't necessary to get there.  I have told Stango that our children can become skilled tradespeople.  He doesn't see it my way.  Despite that I am the first woman in my immediate family to obtain a college degree, I wonder if it is necessary.  Can't Concealed Light become a pastry chef if she so desires?  Can't The Wolfman apprentice as an electrician?  Better yet, he can become the pastry chef and she can become the electrician.  Two years ago,  my former HBO colleague James Altucher made a compelling argument for this in "Don't Send Your Kids to College."  One of the reactions to Altucher's argument was that unless you are a superstar in your field like Bill Gates or Madonna, a college degree is still necessary.

As for me, I am a mama.  With a lot of interests (read any one of my blog entries and you will get an idea). While it is still hard for me to swallow the reality pill that makes me a grownup and not a little girl riding her banana seat bike in 1979, Marlo Thomas' message for children and adults alike is fresh and current in 2012.  And because of that, a tear of joy rolls down my cheek.