Lynndie England, the unenlightened redneck who thought it was a good idea to pose for pictures alongside Iraqi prisoners being tortured at Abu Ghraib, has a twisted view of “normal moms.”

England was paroled in March 2007 after serving half of a three-year sentence for her part in the scandal and now lives in her hometown, Fort Ashby, W.Va. She is the single mother of a 4-year-old son and can’t find a job because, she says, no one wants to hire the woman who became the face of Abu Ghraib.

That brings us to this quote: “Normal moms have jobs. They get up, they take their kids to school, they go to work, they come home, they cook, they clean, they do all that. I’m home all day.”

Say what?! I realize I’m almost three decades removed from childhood, but Lynndie England’s twisted perception of a “normal mom” doesn’t describe the woman who raised me in West Virginia. It doesn’t describe my wife, either, or most of our friends — or even women I’ve known in the workforce.

My mother worked periodically while raising my three brothers and me. She worked from home as a seamstress; she learned to decorate cakes to earn spare money; and when my Dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his 40s, she went to nursing school and eventually joined the workforce. But we were always her top priority. She was a normal mother.

My wife has worked outside the home. Soon after we brought our first daughter home from Guatemala, Kimberly briefly worked as a waitress at Cracker Barrel to help pay down our debt from the adoption. She recently started working part time as a home-care specialist for the elderly because I’ve endured two layoffs since January 2008 and my current job is scheduled to end in October. We’re trying to save money to pay the bills if I don’t find another gig quickly.

But our three children are Kimberly’s priority. Her work schedule revolves around them (and my work schedule), not the other way around. If push comes to shove this fall when a new year begins at the Glover Home School, she will quit the job, not the home-schooling. She is a normal mother.

My former boss obviously worked outside the home, with me in a hectic newsroom. But when she had her first child, she took several months off and then reduced her hours upon returning to work so she could spend more time at home. She quit the workforce altogether after her son was born a couple of years later and now works part time from home as a freelancer. She is a normal mother.

Feminists and others who think they are enlightened want the world to believe that a woman’s place is anywhere but the home, but that’s where normal mothers want to be. You won’t hear them utter the words “I’m home all day” as a complaint, like Lynndie England, because home is where their heart is — and where it should be.