"I would have rather been at work"
I say this almost daily when my husband walks in the door and asks me how my day was. He always chuckles and says "I can imagine."
Because let me tell you all you non-parents out there, PARENTING IS FREAKING HARD AND EXHAUSTING and even more so during the summer.
I witness a toddler kicking and screaming as their mom scoops them up after running off for the umpteenth time and I think "birth control."
I hear another pre-teen speak to their mom with an attitude the size of Mt. Rushmore and roll my eyes. I'm right there with ya momma. These pre-teen's not only eat us out of house and home but change moods like the wind in a summer storm.
I'm tempted to leave my kids at home while I run errands just so I don't have to hear all the begging, whining and or fighting among them. Can 6 year olds watch themselves? Probably when I was growing up, but now a days I think that's illegal. *sigh*
Who ever thought of summer vacation? I swear they just want to torture us with long days and grueling activities like going to the zoo. I mean, what sane adult really wants to walk around in 100 degree heat, kids in tow, watching caged animals? The kids themselves are caged animals, trapped in the confines of childhood. They just want to get out! Planned day trips always sound fun, but they aren't. Trust me, they just aren't.
And as I listen to my own two caged animals bicker upstairs, as I have threatened if they come down here for anything besides death, they will wish they were dying, I'm left wondering. Why do we sign up for parenthood willingly?
I often think I could be out changing the world had I not been forced to take day trips to the zoo.
I think of all the things I could be doing or have gotten done if I weren't sweeping up cheerios for the hundredth time.
And it dawned on me one particular day as I was swearing under my breathe at the sight my kids created in a matter of minutes. I mean really tornados have nothing on these kids.
I was created to be a mom. Yes, they may drive me to drink some days. Ya, I may have a tighter, flatter stomach had I never birthed them. My bank account may be fatter, and my life style a little more lavish if I wasn't a mom BUT my life would be so less fulfilled. And I know without a shadow of a doubt if I never had kids I'd want them.
Because in the end, to-do lists, clean homes, and more money can never compare with creating life and then teaching that life how to thrive on it's own. NOTHING COMPARES TO THE JOY OF WATCHING YOUR CHILD THRIVE and imaging all the endless possibilities that their future can hold.
I may not be a mom who loves and adores all the work and mess that comes with being a mom, but I sure as heck LOVE AND ADORE being chosen to be Austin and Evy's mom. I am changing the world. I am changing the world in these two kid's lives. It is a priviledge and one I don't take lightly.
XO
Charley
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