Lately, despite the fact that sometimes being home all the time makes me want to poke a stick in my eye, I have come to realize that I am so truly blessed to get to be with my kids, and to be available for my girls when they aren’t with me.
On Halloween, I attended a classroom party for my friend’s daughter in her second grade classroom. Her father is deceased, and her mother, who has been my friend for oh… a hundred years, was unable to get out of work for the Halloween party with two days notice. Schools blow my mind with this stuff – I have to say. Of course, most parents wish they could attend every function, but for parents who work outside the home, it’s not a realistic choice. You simply can’t attend every school function, and you must pick-choose which one is “most important”. Of course, all of these events are important to the kids. Which sucks. My friend’s daughter asked if I could go, and I told her that if her mom wasn’t able, I would be happy to go.
Happy might have been stretching it. It was actually a mind-numbing experience. I ended up taking both of my kids to the party and wrangling a two-year-old never fails to be an interesting experience. But, we were there, and I was glad that we could be. I hope when these events are events for my children, I am still in the position where I can get away from whatever I’m doing for an hour to take part.
This morning was another such day where I was grateful I wasn’t zooming off to an office job. Shortly after The Princess and her friends went outside to wait for the bus, Pumpkin decided she was going to find the toilet brush and give the toilet a good cleaning. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said I had to towel off most of the bathroom – it was a mess – and an ill-timed mess, because I didn’t realize until the bus was pulling away from my house that The Princess had left her backpack on the counter.
I decided to get Pumpkin ready to go and held off my departure until I knew the school bus traffic jam would be over outside the elementary school. By the time I arrived at the door of The Princess’s classroom, my poor little monkey was so relieved to see me – her teacher told me that she’d been so upset. They had apparently called and left a message for me at the house right after I’d left for the school. The Princess ran into my arms, and was sobbing. I felt so bad for her – she was devastated about forgetting her backpack. Her teacher had been so kind – told her if I wasn’t able to come, it would be okay, they would find her a snack for snacktime, and she had been planning on hot lunch today anyway. There was nothing that she needed in that backpack, but she really wanted to have it with her. I’m glad I could bring it in.
The thing is, and I know I’ve said it before, whether you stay at home or work outside of the home, it often feels like the grass is greener on the other side. I have never known exhaustion like I’ve known the past few years. Some days I wish I could dash off to an office job, and work a 40 hour week to get a BREAK! Granted, my stay-at-home life involves working 3 jobs (plus being a mom), so it’s far from the typical SAHM experience.
Too often, I think I take things for granted. I’m trying not to….
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