Class discussion today brought up an issue that is close to my heart. I have struggled for a long time with the balance between what I want. I want a family and to be a mother, but I also want to have a career and academic success. People can claim that it’s not a struggle to have both, but I disagree. Maybe that’s because I want to be the mother that my mom was to me, but I also want to be the intellectual that my father is. This semester I decided that I didn’t want to be an elementary school teacher and that I was going to apply to grad schools instead. Now, most people might say, ‘big deal’, but to me it was just that. I realized that I, although teaching would allow me certain liberties, it wasn’t my passion and it was what I had pictured myself doing. I’ve always wondered if I was just crazy for thinking about how I’d love to have a family and I let that weigh into my decisions. This is the first time that I have totally ignored that fact in my decision making. I’d love a male perspective on family and career. Who wants to share?