One of Those Moms
18 Sep 2009 7 Comments
in all about me
It’s taken awhile, but this school year, I feel I have finally become one of those moms.
You know, the kind who have color-coded Outlook calendars at work and a color-coded wall calendar at home and still are sometimes late but also seem to be everywhere at once. The kind of mom who goes to Back-To-School night and sees so many familiar faces, the other moms who volunteer and pitch in and just plain show up over and over again. I’m the kind of mom who realizes at 4:30 that she hasn’t figured out what to do about dinner, but still bakes cookies on the weekends for the lunchboxes. I’m the mom at work in the perfectly coordinated Ann Taylor outfit who has piles of laundry at home on her bed, waiting to be put away.
I’m the mom signing her kids up for art classes and piano lessons, I’m the mom asking you if you want to buy some Girl Scout cookies ($3.50 a box, let me know). I’m the mom gathering pretzels and old magazines for the Environmental Club and dropping off children’s books for the donation box and asking the teacher what supplies I can send in for the classroom so no kid goes without a fresh pencil or box of crayons. I’m clipping coupons, I’m trading recipes, I’m filling up the gas tank in high heels, I’m having a moment of panic when the girls spike a fever on a Sunday morning and I have a nightmarish Monday that I might have to miss. I’m the mom juggling a million balls who still says yes, I’ll be on that committee, yes, I can cover that class, yes, I will write your teacher a note— yes, yes, yes.
I used to look at those moms and wonder how they did it. Now I am one, and I know that somehow, it just all gets done.
Sep 18, 2009 @ 03:38:53
Yep. It drives me crazy when people ask how I do it. It needs to get done, so I just do it.
Sep 18, 2009 @ 05:04:15
Is it weird that I want to comment and make sure everyone knows I’m not buying full-price head-to-toe Ann Taylor? But that I’m scoping out the clearance racks and stalking the factory/outlet stores?
Anyways, yeah. I want all these things to get done, it’s important to me, so it gets done. Not perfectly, not always on time, but it gets done.
Sep 18, 2009 @ 19:16:08
Well, other than the Ann Taylor part (since her sizing is somewhat…discriminatory against the larger-sized woman–you’ve described me to a T. Glad you’ve joined the club!
Sep 18, 2009 @ 19:20:56
Thank you for welcoming me! I think it’s partly the shift to full-time teaching this year, but also it’s just that I’ve found my groove in all the different communities I belong to, and I know what I want to do in each of those arenas now.
And yeah, I have friends who feel the same way about AT, which is frustrating. Around here it’s practically the teacher uniform, since the LOFT stores give teacher discounts.
Sep 23, 2009 @ 21:12:42
Yup me too!
I hear ya!
Sep 24, 2009 @ 05:27:02
I know, Shannon– I’ve been feeling great solidarity with your Facebook statuses lately about volunteering….. hang in there, mama!