Listen, I'm the breadwinner in the family, always have been. I have 2 Masters Degrees and my husband has an AA degree and works in the healthcare field in a front-line, low-paying (but highly respectable) job (he takes care of bathing/cooking for hospice patients)... and as much as I love the crap outta him, I sometimes longingly think back on my first long-term high school boyfriend who wanted me to be a stay-at-home mom raising our kids at home while he worked as an engineer. Being my stupid 17-year-old self, I thought EFF THIS! IMMA MAKE MY OWN WAY! and became independent, fierce, etc. Girl power! Nothing wrong with that!

....but now I kinda hate being the breadwinner, I gotta be honest. I don't make enough for us to live "comfortably;" I make enough for us to get by - nothing more. No savings, no emergency fund... any time a dog gets sick or one of my kids needs something RIGHT AWAY, it always falls on me to come up with the money. I am envious of my SAHM cousin whose daughter is the same age as my son and she spends all day bonding with her - meanwhile I'm doing my fifth Zoom meeting of the day while I get text updates of what my almost-2-year-old is doing with dad today. There's NOTHING wrong with wanting to have security, regardless of the means or plan. Follow your dreams! Even if that means changing your mind later <3 The important thing is to live life on YOUR terms.