photo by happyworker
Today, I’m “that” Mom.
My daughter was supposed to bring in a picture of her pet (or in our case, a picture from a magazine) for a class project. I forgot it and had to send the obligatory, “I’m sorry for being ‘that’ Mom” email to her teacher.
At the pre-school open house this morning, we met my three-year-old’s teacher. Lovely lady. As we were walking out the door, I quipped, “See you after Labor Day. She’s so excited for the first day.” To which the teacher replied, “Oh, we’ll see you in two days. School starts this week, not next.”
My first grader came home from school yesterday and in the process of changing from the school uniform to play clothes he accidentally hit his sister in the head with his belt. My punishment? No belt at school tomorrow, to which I know he will get a note in his backpack saying that he’s not wearing a complete uniform. My kids deplore getting notes like that. As much as they break the rules at home, they totally tow the line at school.
Sometimes I can laugh about being “that” Mom. Today is one of those days. Other days, it brings me to tears. It’s the tissue days that I wonder if I’ll ever get it together. I’m the (mostly) happy mom of five children, ages 11 months to 9 years. I get the ‘you always have it together’ comment quite a bit. Problem is, I don’t always feel like I have it together.
One of these days, I want to be the mom in that email. You know the one. The husband comes home and the house is a tornado – dishes and food everywhere, fridge wide open, laundry spilling out of the washer, television blaring, toys beeping, water running and the front door is wide open. He rushes to the back bedroom and sees his wife happily eating a snack hanging with the kids. When he asks what happened, she replies, “You know all the things I usually do in a day while you’re at work? Well, today, I didn’t do them.”
I want to be THAT Mom. With each child, I’ve learned to let go of my death grip on control, prying one finger off at a time and letting God hold on tight. I think I still have four fingers attached. But, hey, it’s progress.
Kathryn is “that” mom to five pretty cute kids and wife to a really amazing husband. You can check on her progress of giving control to God at Team Whitaker.
Related posts:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I want to be THAT mom, too! Thanks for giving me the inspiration to take that time, sometimes – to disregard the non-essentials and just enjoy life.
It is the truth, the more you have, the more “that mom” you become, lol. If I was brave enough to take a photo on some days…
My motto is, “If you want to see me, you are welcome to visit at any time. If you want to see a clean house, dressed and combed children, or organization then please make an appointment so I will be prepared!”