Editor’s note: The author, lawyer Brooke McIntosh Crump, is a mom in Mt. Gilead and writes bi-weekly for the Speckled Paw Times.

In my last column, I told you I don’t think being a mom is hard. I stand by that. But the thing is, I think it’s just that everything else is so hard for me. I seriously struggle to wake up in the mornings. I have frequently pulled all-nighters to even have a shot at working in my chosen profession. I really, really hate cleaning the house and paying the bills. So it’s not that parenting is just that easy for me; it’s just that everything else is hard.

I’ve told you all about my redneck marriage, so it’s no secret that I think marriage isn’t always easy. When it comes to marriage, there’s an out – it’s called divorce. I have never for a second wanted to take that out, but I think the problem lies in knowing we have options. Making decisions is hard, y’all. That’s why we all have such a tough time deciding where we want to go eat. When you see marriage as a choice, and you see quitting as a choice, you feel like you have decisions to make. When it comes to parenting, there’s no out. You don’t quit your kids. You know you are legally responsible to keep them alive. And you know that you are allowed to whoop them, to some extent. What happens if I were to whoop my husband? MGPD would be getting a call.

As I share my thoughts with you each week, I hesitate because some of you don’t know my past. You are only hearing my thoughts while in this season of my life. And if I’m being honest, this is my best season yet. I’ve had seasons where I wondered if my show might get canceled. But the thing is, I never know if this time of growth might end. 

I didn’t grow up in the Mt. Gilead area, and that’s appealing because y’all didn’t witness my seasons of struggle. I never wanted to be defined by those struggles. You didn’t see how hard I had to work for the things I have now. 

I don’t want, for a single second, to make someone feel bad about the season they are in. Parenting is easy for me now, but I know that it might not always be. I also love my work more than I even knew was possible, but my business could go bust in the blink of an eye. For the most part, none of us can control the future. And for those of you who, like me, have had your fair share of seasons of loss and hardship, it’s scary when you have something to lose. The only thing we can truly control is our mindset and decision not to quit. 

I recently complained to my beautiful friend about my body. She said to me, “Love the house you’re in.” Her words will forever stick with me. I spent years wondering how my life would turn out. I chose my career path at a young age. It was often torturous wondering if I would ever get there. Now that I am in a place where I don’t plan on moving from, a job I don’t want to leave and a husband I want to go home to even on our worst days, I don’t wake up wondering if my life will go in a different direction. I am fully committed to loving the house that I am in, come what may, and I think that has made all the difference.