The Best Job in the World...Except Maybe Astronaut

Michelle, a friend from college, now resides in the small town of Yelm, Washington. She has recently been relocated from Fairbanks, Alaska, the spot the army last chose for her husband Matt.

I make it a point to stop by Yelm, conveniently located between Portland and Seattle, to catch up with Michelle and her adorable two-year-old son, C.J. With a constant grin and bright blonde hair, C.J. is filled with energy throughout lunch, past his nap, and into the afternoon. Frankly, he leaves me contemplating the merits of a daily nap time for myself.

"Did you know that I'm the only Park Scholar with a kid?" a recently pregnant Michelle points out. "I'll have two children before anyone else has one."

Michelle and I both went to Ithaca College, in part, because we were awarded Park Scholarships, which basically meant we got to go to school for free. This was a result of, among other things, a shared inherent need to overachieve. A certain type of person gets the Park Scholarship, which awards high school students with high GPAs, high test scores, and a ridiculous amount of extracurricular involvement and community service.

I find it interesting that out of nearly 100 overachievers who have gotten the scholarship since its start in 1996, Michelle is the only one with a child. By Michelle's count, less than ten of them are married or engaged, and that includes two couples where the bride and groom are both Park Scholars.

Michelle is concentrating on being a full-time mother, and it took her a while to get over her self-imposed guilt of staying at home with C.J. She finally decided it was what she really wanted after Matt offered some particularly supportive advice, encouraging her to do what she really wanted, not what others expected of her.

"It's like I feel the need to justify all of the money they gave me. I know it's not the case, but I don't want them to look at me and think, 'why did we give her all that money for school so she could just go home and be with her child?"

All of twenty-six years old, Michelle has graduated from college, worked various journalism jobs, been a successful columnist, public speaker and army wife, written and published a book, and appeared on both CNN and Fox News for her work. Most importantly, she is an excellent mother.

And she remains an overachiever. In the few hours of my visit, Michelle deals with a lost favorite toy, grumpy snack time, and two potty accidents of varying origin. She also completes a craigslist transaction by selling C.J.'s used baby blankets.

Her son seems to be on the right track himself.

C.J. is barely old enough to talk, but he already has better manners than I do. Michelle has him saying his "pleases" and "thank yous" and eating his vegetables. When it comes time to clean up, C.J. happily travels across the house and even into the backyard to put his toys away immediately.

Michelle loves being a mother, and she looks forward to starting the process over again in a few months. She is so excited about child number two that I can't help but be excited too. After all, the world can always use another overachiever.