Purpose for Living

Too profound for everyone? But when you are 50, and changing "jobs" you need to consider your life. What am I good at? What have I accomplished and all that stuff. After 50 years of living - am I fairly good at anything? If the answer is "no." That gives one pause for thought.
For a solid 23 years I had decided that the purpose of MY life was to guide three kids into and through life with total commitment and dedication. This "job" fell in my lap because it did seem like the kindest way to raise children, and because I was especially suited for this job. Everywhere I have ever gone people tell me that I should work with children. To the point that I actually wonder if that is insulting to me. (Am I so child-like that people do not see me as a serious or mature adult?) But, it was certainly true that I woke up every morning of my life loving being with my kids! My husband supported the family financially and I took care of the three kids and doing whatever needed to be done around the house for anyone every day.
I graduated from college in 1982 and worked for four years at a fast-paced exciting job trading preferred stocks for a big company in NYC. I was enjoying the thrill and learning the corporate climate.
    Then we moved to the 'burbs' to buy a house and raise our family. No doubt my new "job" was just as difficult as my husband's at that point! Though he left the house in the dark and came home in the dark every day to commute to Manhattan and work in the dog-eat-dog corporate world, I was up all night- every night - with two collicky babies and then spent the entire day juggling crying babies. My husband always came in the door and asked "why the baby was crying" and when he woke up in the morning he would ask "why I couldn't stop the baby from crying." That was my life for about three years, and then we had another child!
So, just like an executive starting a great new job, that was my "executive training experience." That was the work I put in to getting to the top of my career. Once that was over, my job got cushier!
The next 10 or so years were pick-ups and drop-offs with 2 hour intervals in-between. By then the kids were about 11, 10, and 7.  And that is how I passed 13 years learning nothing - except life experiences!.....
What a blessing to be given 13 years (actually, 24 altogether now) doing what seems like the most wonderful thing in the whole world to do! But what a strange feeling to look back on all those years and realize that your "talent" is taking care of people. And I didn't manage to cultivate any other tangible talents during all that time!
    My children are 24, 23 and 19 now! And I CAN say that they make me proud. They are three successful, accomplished individuals. Even more importantly, they even seem well-balanced and happy which seems like quite a feat for people. So, maybe my life wasn't a waste. And, my book isn't written yet! There is still time for me to do more -- something that I can be tangibly judged upon. Why does that seem so important to me? I suppose I am just getting the feel of just being responsible for myself!