Wednesday, March 18, 2009

moms...hug yourself! you deserve it.

Okay, so I really should be in bed right now. I'm scheduled to work tomorrow, which means my brain needs to be functional without a mug of coffee glued to my bottom lip, so sleep is a good thing. However...I just checked e-mail before slipping into bed, and my mind is left spinning by a letter my sister-in-law just sent out. I wanted to hug her, cry with her, laugh with her all at the same time. She's having one of those days/weeks/months, that has her venting with frustration, and second-guessing herself. You know how it goes. (I know you do) Sick kids, lack of sleep, nursing baby with a "schedule" all her own, leads to housework malfunction, clutter, more frustration. And it spirals from there. We've all been there. I feel her pain. I wanted to pick up the phone and call, desperately, but feared waking her at one of those rare moments of sleep. So instead, I'm blogging. Wanting to tell her that maybe I've not been keeping it real enough here on the blog. It is my blog afterall, so I only have to tell the good stuff. I'm not required to share that my 8 year old is fascinated with the word "butt-crack" and has found ways to use it as not only a noun, but a verb and an adjective. Or that I scrubbed one of the kids booster seats today, and nearly passed out from what was growing underneath it on the chair. (not to mention that I'm too embarassed to set the chairs out on the curb, for fear someone might take them, and see how I haven't scrubbed the milk splatter off the legs in like, forever!) Or that I could have been in bed hours ago, if it weren't for the 6 baskets of clean laundry piling up in my basement waiting to be folded. (just didn't feel like it the last couple nights.) Nobody needs to hear about my having more than one "junk drawer" for stuff I just don't know what to do with when people come by to visit. Just stick it in the junk drawer!
Truth is, all of us are struggling to keep something together, I think. Sometimes it's easier to manage than others. Or maybe we just get good at letting go of our former expectations. I will have time to keep a clean house someday, I hope. What's important I think, is to be there for each other, to support each other. As moms we're doing exactly what God wants us to be doing, trying our best to bring our kids up to know and love Him...bringing these little souls closer to Heaven.
Give yourself a hug moms! Or better yet, call your friend, sister, mom and tell her how awesome you think she is! (cause she is!) We've been there, done that, knitted the t-shirt, and the odds are good, we'll do it again sometime, and need that hug right back.