Friday, June 15, 2007

real life

Being the mommy of 5 small children is not the easiest job in the world. I do realize that I am part of a family, not a corporation so I just can't quit, but some days I wonder why I have volunteered for this vocation.

Yesterday afternoon I spent over 2 hours getting ready to join Tim and Will out at the farm, making a picnic dinner, packing sweatshirts and tools, making sure all the baby's nappies were clean and dry and everyone had gone potty. We drove about 20 minutes through the scenic countryside before Mary yelled, "Mommy, Charlie has thrown up, and its all over ME!" I pulled over at the nearest gas station and blanched at the mess all over my brand new van - milk curds and goo over 6 square feet, much of it pooling in the van seat and dripping into the seat belt slots. It was covering all Charlie's clothes and part of Mary's as well. With my handful of wipes in the emergency bucket I wiped out the car as best I could, stripped down Charlie and put everyone back in to get to the farm. I was so frustrated with my carsick tot that I told Tim as he drove up on the tractor with a quizzical look on his face, "I quit. I don't want to deal with this again for the second day in a row," and stomped off to the next field over.

After about 20 minutes of recovering by being alone in the woods, finding a wild turkey hen and her chicks, and poking around the base of a huge oak tree, I walked back to the housesite. Tim had put all the children he could find in the van and said he was taking them to clean up. I could come home, making sure to bring Mary, when I wanted to. I worked out my frustration by smashing up dead tree limbs into oblivion for about an hour before I wanted to go home and resume my motherly role. It certainly wasn't Charlie's fault. We just have to realize that afternoon car trips over lots of hills doesn't bode well for the car upholstery.
Being a real life Mommy is not like being one on TV. It is often messy, inconvient, and stinky. Conflicts do not get resolved in 25 minutes with everyone smiling at the closing credits. But real life is full of emotions such as love, joy, and forgiveness that are only alluded to on the screen. Being a real life Mommy is better.

1 comment:

Milehimama @ Mama Says said...

Oh my, been there, done that!

The best way I've found to get carsick out of seat belts is a spray bottle with water. Turn it to "stream" and use it like a waterpik. Works to get carseat latches clean.