Skip to main content

What I Know

On the way home from soccer, the girls and I were talking about school and when they would go to college.  The conversation ended something like this:

Paige: So you went to college to be a mom?
Me: Well, they don't really teach how to be a mom in college?
Paige: So they just didn't teach you anything?

Not exactly, but some day's it sure feels that way!  Take today for example.  The morning started with Paige refusing to get in the van because she didn't feel well.  By the time I convinced her to move, Emerson had not only stepped in dog poop but had smeared it all over his socks and jeans.  After a quick cleaning of the shoes and grabbing extra clothes to clean the boy up, we left for school only to realize that I had failed to feed anyone breakfast.  Lovely.  Paige hates breakfast, so she was not disappointed to be missing a meal, but my Brooklyn is a Farmers Platter kind of girl and Emerson was already begging for a drink.  Starbucks to the rescue! 

Fast forward to four o'clock when I realize that Adam left Paige's soccer cleats on the back deck after cleaning them.  Practice starts in two hours and we need them dried.  I had been told to stuff them with newspaper to help absorb the water.  Paige did a superb job of stuffing, but I thought we could speed things up a bit more.  I pulled out the hair dryer and told her to give it a go.  Two minutes later she is standing by my side saying that she is very sorry but she got the hair dryer too close and the newspaper is shrinking down.  Half way to the bathroom she mentions that their is smoke.  Was there ever!  If I soak the cleat I will be back to square one, so I risk burnt fingers and dig away.  Disaster averted.  For now.

Two hours later we are finally ready to head to practice and the soccer ball that had been sitting next to our front door for two days is suddenly missing.  I don't if I should blame the wind or a thief but it is gone.  We searched the yard, the garage, and the house.  Nothing.  I spent the fifteen minute car ride convincing an idealist 7 year old that this would not ruin her practice.  During which there would be 50 mph winds of 37 degree air pounding my ear drums incessantly.  I had nothing.  It was miserable.

When the hour was finally up and everyone ready to leave, the sliding door to the van will not unlock.  During my attempts to unstick the lock, Paige slams the door locking my keys inside.  Fantastic.  A quick call to my mom and my brother (who just move home yesterday) is on his way with my spare key.  Fifteen more minutes.  I can do this.  Then both girls announce that they need to potty and it cannot wait.  We are standing outside an elementary school at 7:30pm.  There is no where to go....but outside.  Of course. 

There is no degree, class, book, theory or experience that prepares you for what motherhood has in store.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mama's Sick

That's right, you heard it here first.  This mama's SICK!  I have fought off the runny nose-sore throat-head in a vice germs for months on end, but at last I have succumb.  Of course this misfortune must come on the same day as Ohio State's Bowl Game.  Try as he might, my dear husband has zero ability to hear ANYTHING that is happening when a football game is on.  Trust me.  I banged quite a few dishes around in the kitchen.  I even sighed loudly as I carried laundry in to fold.  Still...nothing.  He really does mean well.  He attempted to help with bedtime, but all three of those ankle bitters insisted on "mommy" putting them to bed.  He told me to go to bed as soon as he got home, but really ?  Can you imagine what the house would look like by morning???  I could have asked for help.  I should have asked.  Isn't that what my mother has been hammering into my head for the past 9 years?  "He doesn't see...

My Promise

To my children: I recently saw this sign... "I am not your friend.  I am your parent.  I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare, and hunt you down when necessary because I love you and when you understand that I will know you're a responsible adult.  You will never find someone who loves, prays, cares, or worries about you more than me.  This is my promise to you." At first glance, I thought I might agree, but then I read on.  The words that followed didn't settle.  You are little and, right now, I am not your friend.  On day, I hope to be and so I am making you a different promise. I will give you the freedom to test your wings and the boundaries to keep you safe.   I will enforce constructive consequences that will help you better understand the choices you make.  I will listen to your fears, needs and desires.  I will treat you with respect, grace, and love alway...

Changes

"This pool is shady.  I NEED sun, so get back over here!" she scorned.  A mom who's little girl just wanted to play with her friend.  A mom who couldn't see past her need for perfect tan lines.  A mom who was missing the joy of vacation and was, in turn, stealing it from her daughter. My heart breaks.  I wish I could make her see just how much she is missing.  I wish her daughter could spend an afternoon with a mom who was completely engaged.  I wish she could know the joy of splashing with her children.  The memories that far outlast a tan.  I've traded pina coladas for snow cones, novels for sand castles, and late nights for early mornings.  My tan lines aren't even, my people watching has been narrowed to three little ones, and more money was spent at The Children's Place than Banana Republic.  Vacation has changed.  It's not that I have given up on any of the original ways of vacation.  They are ce...