When a friend asked me what I was up to these days, I gave her a sample of my usual “to do” list.

 

“Mothers have always quilted,” she said matter-of-factly. “That’s what women have to do survive.”

 

I don’t like to sew and would never have the time to actually make a quilt, but what my friend described as “quilting” in this case is what many women have been forced to do in order to balance work, family and other obligations – especially in an economy like we have today.

 

Many of us no longer have a choice, so we try to be creative with our time and resources. I know moms who have launched their own businesses, moms who work two or more part-time jobs, moms who weave income-generating work in between caring for their kids by putting their hours in early in the morning, during naptimes and then again late at night.

 

My own quilt is a huge mess right now – a little uneven and patched with scraps that have no foreseeable pattern. When people ask me what I do these days, I tell them I teach a little, I write a little, I go to classes at night, I take good care of my kids.

In other words, I juggle like a growing number of moms. It's what we do to survive.

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