Thursday, March 10, 2016

SUPER MOM

I am a Super Mom. I’m just going to admit it, so that I can feel better. Never mind that I’m often in my pajamas until 10 a.m. Never mind that I lost my temper yesterday. Never mind that I hate cleaning bathrooms, and that the kitchen floor needs vacuuming. I’m a mother, and therefore, I’m super, right?

I’m not just super, I’m super-duper. I’m raising both toddlers and teens … all at the same time! (Come to think of it, I have a few “tweens” too!) My days are spent toilet training toddlers, and my afternoons are spent taxiing teens between lessons and sports. In the evenings, I read ABC books to the younger generation, and then help the older generation with algebra. The first wave of children goes to bed at 7:30 p.m., the second wave at 8:30, and the third wave … well, sometimes we all stay up late with homework. I’m up at 5:30 a.m. to feed the baby and wake the first batch of students. As soon as they’re out the door, the second batch wakes up, and then the third batch. Mothers are the perfect definition of “exhaustion.” Thank goodness for national holidays like Mother’s Day to honor sleep-deprived wonders like myself.

I’ll never forget one evening when I was especially exhausted. The house was a mess, and too many children needed me all at the same time. Just at that moment, the phone rang. My Grandma Bisson, 85, was on the other end of the line. In dismay, I described to her the scene of confusion and disaster unfolding at my house. Without a moment’s hesitation, Grandma responded in her smiling, crackly voice, “Been there, done that.”