Monday, June 14, 2010

On Being RealMom

When we see other people's lives we often don't see the chaos.  We see what they want us to see.  My life is normally very organized, I didn't say perfect, but we are creatures of routine here.  Once in awhile I think God likes to shake things up for us a bit, I think HE thinks it's comical.  (It's thinking like that that keeps me smiling and doing the best I can).  Well, today we had a bizarre day.  This is not incredibly out of the ordinary. My life isn't perfect, and that's OK.  But, looking back on this day we all had to sort of a chuckle.  So, a not quite so ordinary, but not completely infrequent kind of day....
  • Spent half the day working at VBS (my first time). I brought my 2 year old Logan with.  He enjoyed it for the first hour, not the next 3.  Have you ever tied Rosary knot after Rosary knot while holding a 25 lb child?
  • Got home and fed the kids, then took a 20 min. nap.
  • Rushed out to the grocery store with 5 year old Elizabeth.  I'm dealing with an upper back injury and everything was fine until I started loading those groceries.
  • Got home and iced my back while the kids put the groceries away.
  • Realized how late it was and we needed to leave for the soccer field in less than 1 hour.
  • Doled out jobs to make that happen, and took the youngest 4  on a semi-necessary errand.
  • Brought dinner to the game and did my best to get there on time.  I took a wrong turn and we got there 5 minutes late (we were supposed to be there 20 minutes early).  I have to say in my defense, we've been going to Anna's soccer games for years and we have NEVER ever even been close to being late.
  • Park the van and start to dig out dinner in the van since it's pouring rain, and Anna doesn't know anyone on this new team well enough to ask for a ride.  There was certainly the potential that game would be cancelled with the weather we were having.
  • See Anna at the window.  Her team isn't there.  I must have written the time down wrong.  Again, in my defense, in all these years this has never happened.  And, after getting home I double checked all the times, this was the only one I wrote down wrong.
  • Drive home and eat our dinner there.
  • Drive Anna back to soccer, bring Teresa.
  • Drive back home to pick up Logan, and drop off Teresa.
  • Drive back to soccer and get there just in time for half time. 
  • We had the half time snack.
  • Logan and I watched Anna play.  It was a great game, and the kids were obviously having fun in the rain and muck.  It's really fun to see 8-11th grade girls have fun in the rain and muck.
  • My husband was home from work by this time and had everyone in their PJ's.  We said our prayers and sent the kids to bed.  I was tired.  I still needed to change Logan.  I layed him on the bed, and, well, he's a boy, and he hasn't done that since he was a newborn.  This time he found it hilarious!  Need I say more?
  • Follow Logan to the bathroom where he excitedly finishes.   Get him ready for bed, take off our bedspread. 
  • Stay up late waiting for those VBS shirts to get done in the washing machine.  We need them in the morning. 
  • Lament the fact that this is the first day in 2 weeks I didn't go on a bike ride.  I should have ordered my groceries to be delivered like I had planned to do.  I could be doing that right now and I could have taken my bike ride,  And I wouldn't have hurt my back again.
So, that is partly why I use the name RealMom4Life.  I am a real mom.  I have bizarre days, I have great days, I have, well, less than great days...trying to keep those to a minimum.  4Life has a double meaning....I hope to always be real and keep smiling through the less than perfectness of my life.  And, hey, I am pro-life.

1 comment:

The Road Scholar said...

Oh, it is so nice to see other mom's real lives...makes the rest of us feel more normal, especially those of us that worry we're not keeping up with everything in our lives. You did great. You did keep up with it all, and with a smile to boot!

LOL about the bed spread. I wish I could tell you the number of times the bathroom rug gets washed... There's barely any backing left with three boys, 12 and under.