Smrat like me

Today I kept thinking of a story about my sister Katie...

In her box of doodads and memorabilia from her childhood, exists a short paper she must have written for a first or second grade class. It goes:

"I am smrat!
And my mom is smrat,
and my dad is smrat,
and all my brothers and sisters
are smrat like me."

And I think the reason why I kept thinking of this particular piece of kid prose, is that I still feel like that...

I am forever trying to convince everyone-- myself, my husband, my family and friends, that I really am intelligent. That even though there are many moms out there that become moms by default...and there are some that are teenagers, and some that are negligent, and some that use their kids as pawns to get more government welfare...
that I still CHOSE this. I chose Anna. And the work I have chosen to do wouldn't garner more than minimum wage in most of the world.
And even though I have forgotten much of what I learned in school, and the times I get a jeopardy question right are few and far between and mostly in the areas of pop culture, and the most academic thing I do most days is read to my daughter and figure out a strategic grocery shopping route...
I still have a doctorate degree...darn it! And I demand respect! Because I... AM... SMRAT!