Since high school, I searched to discover what I wanted to be when I grew up.

The answer came easy to others around me: a friend who’s an attorney, my brother the architect, my husband the reporter. For them, careers just seemed to click.

I, on the other hand, was never so sure and eventually fell into journalism. It combined my interest in current events and my desire to be “in the know” with the opportunity to hang out with interesting people.

When something’s happening, there are few more electric places to be than a newsroom. And a job that requires me to be right all — well, at least most — of the time does fit my personality.

But something seemed to be missing.

That something arrived nearly a year ago, with the birth of my daughter. Motherhood finally seemed like a career that was truly worth the effort.

It’s been said many times before about parenting, but it bears repeating: The hours are long, there are no coffee breaks or true vacations, and the paycheck is nonexistent.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” I’d tell anyone who would listen in those first few weeks.

But the perks are off the charts.

Each day, I realize that waking up to the coos and chatter of a human alarm clock sure beats any bleep-bleep or radio music.

My daughter spends her days discovering, dining and delighting in the world that surrounds her. It’s a refreshing perspective.

And while it’s easy for new moms to focus on what has been lost — sleep, mobility, independence — it’s almost humbling to realize what has been gained. There are new slobbery kisses, adorable young laughter and the never-ending clamor of a child in the house. There is constant companionship and a larger sense of responsibility.

Perhaps the biggest gain, however, is a new perspective on life.

While holidays and other family events are made more special, it’s the everyday moments, seen through bleary eyes, that make mom smile. Watching an infant’s delight in a revolving ceiling fan, a Mylar balloon, a plastic lid. Reveling as baby rips apart a magazine or a paper towel and shrieks with delight. Laughing when the Weather Channel music is enough to make her boogie.

When you carve out space in your home, car and schedule for baby, you also carve out a new space for caring.

I still spend 30 hours a week at my editing job, trying to be right all the time. For me, work has become a nice change of pace, a place where I can interact with other adults and actually sit still for hours at a time.

When I first returned from maternity leave, it was somewhat comforting to see that little had changed at work while the rest of my life was now so, so different.

Sometimes I do wonder why time spent away from my child is worth more — financially, at least — to society than time spent with her.

And that may help explain why now I think of it as a job that uses my education and training, rather than as a career. Because mothering, like other true callings, simply comes from the heart.

The search for my perfect career ended at 9:37 a.m. last May 14. And it couldn’t have been a better fit.

— Susie Fagan is a copy editor at the Journal-World. Her daughter, Erin, will be 1 year old in three days.