Nothing better to do
Today was a really long day. And I mean a REALLY. LONG. DAY. Good day, but long. It involved hitting snooze (never a good idea for me), trying madly to work out details for moving this weekend, rushing to a dr. appointment an hour away with four tired kids, one of whom was very sick, sitting in a 8×8 office with said children plus a doctor for almost two hours, saying good-bye to a doctor who has been a cherished friend to our family, seeing one of my dearest friends in the world and having to say good-bye to her, getting a haircut with four kids in tow, taking them to McDonald’s for a reward for being so great all day, cleaning up after my 2-year-old threw up three times all over her siblings and their chicken nuggets, not to mention the rest of the restaurant, while being stared at by everyone else there, getting new medical equipment with all of the kids trying to wait patiently while their mother went through reams of paperwork, then piling them all into one of those enormous carts at walmart and wheeling them all around while waiting an hour and a half for prescriptions to be ready. Later it also involved eye drops and 32 ounces of laundry soap all over the floor. But let’s stop there.I got lots of “looks” today. One young man, who obviously spent more time on his hair and makeup today than I do all week, looked at me with all of my girls, turned to his friend, and swearing, said, “Look at all those kids. Doesn’t she have anything better to do?”
No. I do not have anything better to do. Because there is nothing better that I could ever possibily do. Let my kids throw up in McDonalds and cry through the whole store. I wouldn’t change it for a second. I may be tired at the end of the day, but my heart sings when they call me “mommy.”
I’m an intelligent woman. I was valedictorian. I have a degree from a prestigious university where I was a first violin in the symphony orchestra and where I had the opportunity to lecture to hundreds of students and faculty alike. I am a yoga certified instructor with my own line of yoga videos. My job in college was writing a dictionary. But ask me what my best work is, what my greatest accomplishment is, and I will tell you without a moment’s hesitation. My children. They are my greatest work, and they are what I live for and what I have waited all my life for. The best and highest honor and compliment I can give myself is summed up in four words:
I am a mother.
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