The first time our eldest's pediatrician's office staff told me, “Mommy, you can have a seat right here,” I felt nauseated and invisible, like they had just erased the entire human being that I had been before that, who also had a name!
I ultimately left the office (for that and other more justifiable reasons) but realized my beef with motherhood was far greater than a word.
With time, I came to understand it was the way in which I was mothering - and the way society viewed me as a mother - that felt so profoundly “erasing.”
Ironically, I now feel that it is this same motherhood that has led me to my truest self and given me my most powerful voice and identity.
Being a mother has changed me intellectually, spiritually, practically, and politically.
So yeah, go ahead and call me Mommy, as long as you do it with some serious fucking respect. I will meet you on that playground any day.