I definitely have a certain personality as a mother. I think personality infuses everything we do. I’ve recently been pondering the statement, “Be who you are.” Today I am trying to be who I am in motherhood. Normally, I like to go out somewhere on the days I’m alone with the girls. I go out and exercise at the club, we go swim, we shop, we have a playdate, we go to the library, go to the park, etc. I generally avoid doing any errands with the kids. I have not found shopping with them the most enlightening experience. This means that chores and errands often get crowded into the weekend. I often get anxious about doing chores. Ideally, I’d not do them on Sunday (where they often get pushed) to enjoy the Sabbath. On work days, after a night of dinner and caring for the girls and baths, I’m often too exhausted to put much dent in laundry. If you’re counting, there’s not too many days left.
So I put a stake in the sand today. I am going to conquer the huge pile of dishes and the 5 loads of laundry left over from being away for 4 days in California and from the work week. Today I was supposed to go on a play date with a friend and take Sara to the aquarium. That got foiled by the threat of sickness. I’m a little more gun shy about sickness these days. So instead, I turned into a chore day. I did talk about going to a lovely park since the sun is shining today. It is actually a little taunting since it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. I haven’t figured out how to reasonably bring doing dishes and laundry outside. Worse, laundry is in a dark (though comfortable) basement. So I forged ahead after breakfast. Time marched on. Work got done. Kids played. I would stop for requests. Sara and I put on Philadelphia Chickens when she found the book and wondered where the promised CD was. I had to explain it was in the “computer”. I would point my fingers at the words in time with the music. Sara liked this a lot. Laura likes jumping on me. She tried to crush my glasses several times with physical wrestling. Sheets got turned into super capes. There were Martha and Mary moments to the morning.
As hunger and lunch time approached, so did the wails from Sara. “I want to go to the park before naps!” I couldn’t provide for this request even though I looked out at the sapphire sky. This close to nap wouldn’t make for a successful trip. So instead, I took the brunt of the screaming, fed them lunch in a belief that hunger was feeding the emotion. I opened the kitchen door to the backyard while I finished dishes. Sara put on knee pads and declared she was Penny from the movie Bolt. Laura ran inside and got a stuffed dog to be Bolt. Then Sara said, “zoom-zoom Bolt” to the dog and whizzed around the table on the deck.
I definitely struggle with Mary and Martha moments. But it’s nice to have a spoon for the yogurt I’ll eat for a snack and clean underwear. And we will get to the park.
Postscript- We did make it too the park. Sara has been asking all week to recap the adventure I had with Laura on Monday night.
This is what I wrote in Facebook:
“Karen had chocolate shakes made by friends, visited a dragon with Laura, and watched Laura climb a mountain. Blessed day! Sara bonded with Daddy over Bella Sara and did really well with a puzzle.”
Since then, Sara’s been begging to go to the park with the Dragon. And chocolate shakes. So we did. We stopped by Lunchbox to get nice chocolate cherry shakes served in beakers. It’s a scruffy place (as Wayne says, it’s hard to keep anything clean on 15th with cars zooming by) but the shakes were good. We grabbed Jack and had a quick expedition to the dragon park. I zoomed the girls off for a parent’s night out and had a 12th anniversary dinner at Volterra with Wayne.
Can it be Mary and Martha moments combined? I think so.