This week, I had one of those days as a mom that makes you wonder how we ever keep our sanity.
It started out with the usual morning rush. Cereal is eaten and I am busy making lunches. The youngest is upstairs calling me to help her make her bed and get dressed. I continue to call her down as she doesn't have school until later and I just don't have time that moment. This calling back and forth continues until it's time to go and I have to carry her to the car because she won't comply.
One daughter had hoped I could straighten her hair, but we ran out of time. I thought she looked great, but as we pulled up to school, I was informed how horrible her hair looked and that she would have done something different, but she "thought it was going to get straightened!" (Door slams, she doesn't look back.)
Typical teenage drama. I try to shrug it off, even more convinced this kid needs more sleep.
My morning is wasted trying to fix my computer, again. I spend the afternoon volunteering in my youngest child's class. We rush home after school, I get the elementary kids a snack, and we head to Murrieta for an eye appointment. It's time for a new prescription for kid #3.
I realize that I have planned this appointment to just barely fit in our schedule and the rest of our day is at the mercy of the doctor. If he is running late, then everything else is going to be rushed madness.
This day, he was running 30 minutes behind (not bad, really). I spend the time quizzing my youngest on her flash cards and insisting that the other one get her silent reading done for the day. We have soccer next, of course, so we are multitasking.
We pull in the driveway with 20 minutes to mix up some blueberry pancakes and eat. As I walk in the door, I am bombarded with my older kids who need help with homework and have multiple tests they need help studying for.
Problem: I need to feed my kids. I need to leave to take kids to soccer and coach my team. I need to be at a meeting immediately following soccer. I need to get my kids to bed at a decent hour. I am not due home until after 9 pm. This homework will take hours. Husband is busy tonight, too.
It was a day where each thing, in isolation, is not a big deal, but piled up together, they just make you want to scream!
What do I do? Well, what else can you do, when you're the mom, except keep moving forward?
So I make the pancakes. One child insists on helping and we make quite a mess. I eat while I'm cooking and meeting demands like: "Mom, can you get me a fork?", "I need some syrup", "Mom, will you cut up my pancake?", "Hey, I wanted to flip that one!", "Will you shake my drink in my Slushy Magic cup? It's not working!", "I need help with my math!"
As I turn around to put a bowl in the sink, the slushy magic cup slips out of my daughter's hand and hits the ground. Blue Kool-Aid is splashed all over the floor, the chair, and the curtains. (Amazingly enough, I had not just mopped the floor that day.)
I quickly wipe up the mess as best I can. Dishes are tossed in the sink and we are out the door, running only a few minutes behind schedule. I try to brush the image of a very messy kitchen out of my mind.
As we are leaving, our cat-chasing dog bolts out the front door.
Immediately, the kids are all running around, trying to coerce the dog to come home. All I want is for them to get all their stuff and get in the car, and I tell them so! With the lure of a reward, I manage to grab the dog and lock her in the house.
And, we are off! As I come to a stoplight, I realize that my tank is on empty. I look down at my phone and see that my battery is almost dead. A perfect metaphor for exactly how I feel at that moment.
At that point, I realize that something has to give.
I use the last of my battery life to get someone to cover me at my meeting. What I really need to do tonight is get these kids back home, help them finish their homework, and get them to bed. Today, I just can't do it all. As much as we all try to be, we aren't Superwoman; we're just "mom."
Karen Thomas is a stay at home mom of four daughters, has been on the PTA board at her kids' school for four years, and is a volunteer at her church, in addition to her activities as a volunteer soccer referee, a piano teacher, and a runner. Her column will appear here every Thursday. Comments are welcome.
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