Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother's Day





Mother's Day is a perfect example of my inner struggle with my familial responsibilities. I felt I shouldn't have to cook; yet, I felt guilty for not having a special dinner meal for the family. I felt I should have less responsibility for the kids today; yet, I had some time alone to run errands and then felt guilty for not being with the kids so I came home. It's amazing how much guilt drives my life.

This was most definitely not the Mother's Day I dreamed of - hey, I'm anything if not honest - but I've made my peace with it now. Little effort was put into my "gift" which felt, well, icky. Molly was super cranky this morning so I knew we couldn't do lunch as a family, so I asked Claire to go with me and she (thinking I was grumpy and spying an opportunity to play with the neighbor kid) turned me down. So I had lunch all alone and allowed myself a rare moment to feel sorry for myself. Watching all the dressed up families eat together, it was hard not to feel abandoned as a mother. Then I did some shopping on my own until mid-afternoon and that put me in a better mood. Nothing like a little retail therapy to add some perspective.

When I returned home we took the kids to Deanna Rose, and because Kyle joined us, we were able to go sans stroller which was really nice. The twins got to walk all around and they loved it. Photos are from Deanna Rose today.

And by the way, I have now gotten over my no-cooking guilt - when Kyle and I called to place a take-out order, the first restaurant said they weren't doing take out because they were so busy tonight. The second restaurant, our favorite Fusion Chinese place, had triple the normal wait time to complete the order. So I guess I'm in good company on this no-cooking-on-mother's-day concept.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. We are all in this motherhood thing together.

No comments: