My children will never say that about me.
I admire the image of these women but I am not one of them. I complain. I sigh emphatically. They hear my frustrations. I curse like a truck driver. I cry when I think I put their iPod through the washing machine for fear I will need to purchase another one. When they lose something tres chere, I fall apart inside. In the grand scheme it is silly but I am impulsive and a little explosive and sometimes my budget chokes the good humour out of me.
I was just forwarded one of those things that makes me feel a little short staffed. According to Maya Angelou "you can tell a lot about a woman by the way she handles these three things; a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas lights"
Well, all I can say is I like rain.
My 11yo son handed in an assignment last week on "extraordinary people". He had to identify 3 famous people, and 3 people he knows who are extraordinary and say why. I had very conflicted emotions when I peeked at his work and saw that he'd identified me as extraordinary because I work all day and still make them dinner every night. Touched that he cares, but conflicted because obviously I don't make this all look effortless. He knows how tough it is because on occasion I lose it and yell in frustration "you don't know how hard it is to work all day and then come home and make dinner." I guess he does know after all, and now I feel kind of sad about that. Motherhood...you can't win!
well done Jen! No surprise.
Nancy, I'm cursing along with you, woman. Sometimes when I've finished having a little cry about something, I say to myself, "Seriously, what's the matter with you, Self? Get a hold of yourself for goodness sake..." And then I shake it off until the next time. But that Maya list? Yeah - I have a jaunty rain hat, I almost never travel, and I think I buy new Christmas lights every year, just to avoid that tangly mess.
Also, my wallet is almost always empty. Poo.
tracey-you crack me up. must share bottle soon.
i'm happy to read this post and know i will, too, never be the "saintly" mother. i'm such a baby although i deal well with all of the above. it's all the other crap i can't deal with! :-)
everyone's crap is different, yes?!
What a timely piece of writing. I lost it with my poor girl (9 yrs) yesterday morning because she lost my car keys and we spent an hour looking for them before I could drive her to the sitter's and go to work. (When I see that written down, it seems so ordinary, but at the time it seemed like I was the *only* person in the history of the world who ever had to endure such torture. I guess I'm a drama mama.)
I've made the promise to myself that my real Christmas gift to my girls will be to lose my patience a little less frequently and suck it up a little more often. I want to complain enough to let them know how hard I work, but not so much that they don't think they're worth it.
Merry Christmas!
I guess letting the 9 year old borrow the car was the first error!
Thanks for commenting- we are all the same on this:doing our best and human at once!
Oh Maya - I love rain too Nancy, and xmas lights are like a puzzle to solve...lost luggage - I'll lose it. But I LOSE IT so much lately...I hate it - I'm making a conscious effort to try and chill the hell out these days....