Being a Mom

My son asked me the other day, "Mom, are you the only grownup that we know that doesn't have a job?" Just got to love him.
Well, no actually, according to him, most of my "just mom" friends are out of a job, too. I think a lot of people see stay-at-home moms this way. We just get up everyday whether we feel like it or not. We try to get ready or have quiet time before everyone else wakes up and needs to know where this or that is (and you usually do even though you were not the one that was using whatever it is they were looking for). So, do any of you really do spring cleaning? Just what exactly does that mean? I find myself with paper clutter everywhere. It never fails, somehow we have paper covering almost every imaginable surface of our house...kitchen table, floor, coffee table, bedside table, shelves. You name it, it's probably there. Back to cleaning...do you find that most days you are picking up something that someone else put in the wrong place and by the time you are done doing that, you are to tired to do what you took out to do and it is sitting there in the wrong place and looks like you are the one making the messes around the house? Does it just seem that if you are a stay-at-home mom you are expected to fit other people's requests for your day in too? I find that most of the time I keep the house picked up just enough for Clean House not to show up. Just when you think you have the dishes done and the kitchen clean and you can move on to something else, someone comes and tells you that they are hungry again. Then there is this mess that seems to always accumulate on the floor under the dining room table after every meal and snack. I don't think it matters how old the children are, crumbs are everywhere. They never make it onto the plate. They hit every surface on the way down from the mouth to the table to their clothes, the chair, and lastly the floor.
I don't have a job but somehow everyone seems to have clean clothes, although they may be wrinkled. I don't have a job but somehow everyone seems to have a full tummy, although we may have the same 5 menus every week. I don't have a job but somehow they get ready and off to school each day and don't miss the bus without spending one minute at daycare somewhere. I don't have a job but somehow they have a lunch to take to school everyday. I don't have a job but somehow they have someone who helps them get their homework done and checked. I don't have a job but somehow they get a bath or shower and to bed each night (ok maybe not a shower or bath every night). I don't have a job but somehow I try to get to their school to volunteer each week. I don't have a job but somehow they get a warm bath in the middle of the night when they are having those wonderful growing pains they can't sleep through. I don't have a job but somehow they make it to the doctor and dentist. I don't have a job but somehow they get to Church, friend's houses to play, birthday parties, the library, the park, carnivals, movies, Grandma's and Grandpa's. I don't have a job but somehow we manage to survive that fun time of the year called back-to-school shopping. You know where we get clothes, school supplies and we can't get it all at one store because they are out of some things at one so we end up going to about 5 by the time everything is found. I don't have a job but somehow their belongings that need fixing get mended. I don't have a job but somehow when someone needs a present (since I know how to bake, crochet, sew, paint...) someone usually makes them a handmade gift.
To make money, I thought I would try Craigslist like my sister and husband have done. Why not, they have had good luck with it, right? I get calls from people saying they will buy my stuff and they never show up. Frustrating. So, it just seems easier to donate to the local shelter or thrift shop.
Don't get me wrong, I do love what I do. I do enjoy the unconditional love of my children, the fact that my husband works so hard so that I can be home with our children, that we have a home, food on the table, clothes and much more. It just gets frustrating that everything good seems to go unnoticed but the messes don't.
(Disclaimer: please forgive me if anything was left out. I do get "mommy brain" sometimes. You know it's what happens to a woman when she becomes a mom...we think about so many other people and things that some things are just forgotten- not on purpose.)

So the answer to your question my son...I may not have a job that is looked at as a job by most but I do get the best pay of all...lots of love, hugs and kisses and don't forget all those dirty dishes.
(Yes, I did write this...typos and all! Lori Tabor)