Ode to Mothering.

A Few Sure Fire signs that you need to clear your head…

1. You woke up snuggling the trash bag you were using to clean your filthy house the night before…

2. While in the shower you put face wash in your hair instead of shampoo and wonder why this crappy shampoo has lost its lather only to realize….your an idiot and that’s not shampoo its face cream.

3. You buckle your child into her car seat only to look down and realize you are wearing a brown flat and a flip flop…AND you ask yourself “ will anybody really notice?”

4. The coffee cup you grabbed off the counter was indeed coffee….from a few days ago.

5. You get to work and do the usual…get the access badge pinned on, attach the walkie talkie to your belt loop and put your cell phone in your pocket and you hit the floor running. There’s an issue, you need to reach for your cell phone…..you pull out a purple and blue Disney princess Ariel toy phone, flip it open and THEN realize your call cannot be completed as dialed.

6. And once again, the coffee your co-worker made was indeed tasty….yesterday when it was warm.

This is a true story. No names have been changed to protect the idiot, no dramatizations here….this is a tiny window into the life a real live single mother.

So to all the other hard working single gals raising children with miss- matching pigtails I say ….Bravo. Bravo. I commend you for not wearing sweatpants as part of your “casual” wardrobe. For always checking the review before applying the lipstick while driving and blindly searching the floor of the back seat for a stuffed pig.. For every time you quickly end a conversation with a stay at home mom in the hall way of your daughter’s school by laughing with a smile and walking away so as to not grab the other mother by her shoulders and scream…”Shut up! Don’t you realize there is a world of traffic and office politics that I have to get to! I have meetings I have to pretend to enjoy, people I have to fake smile at and sexist jokes I have to brush off! Outa my way!”
Bravo indeed.

And here is the “stay at home mom” disclaimer:
You are a valuable asset to your family. Those kids are benefitting from your being there. You house is no doubt clean, food is well prepared and laundry is clean. Enjoy the errands you run in the middle of the day. Make time for yourself to relax and don’t dare feel guilty about it! Enjoy every second of it sisters….because it’s a cold cold cruel world out here and I would trade any one of ya in a quick second! Keep on keeping on. When you feel like you can’t take another episode of Wow Wow Wubbzy, think about the others….the others who are at work. Think of us sisters and press forward…Press on and ignore your child when they make annoying faces at you behind your back! You’re a stay at a home mom. You drink coffee whenever you please, you eat lunch no matter the time and you take as long as you need. You fix vacuum cleaners and keep up to date on current events both Noggin and World related. You are mom. Stay at home mom. Hear you roar.