Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Wonders of Being a Super Mom

Today I got a call from a mom. I get calls from other moms on a daily basis but this call; well, this call was somewhat special. You see, this particular mom has 4 children. They are 9, 8, 7 years old and the baby is 2 months old. She called to have someone to talk to. Her hubby is getting jealous, it appears, because she's been spending too much time with the kids and not enough with him. I listened carefully and felt her pain. I remember all too well my own days of frustration when my children were very young.

My little princess, when she was a baby, would not miss a meal. She woke up every two, three hours for the first six months of her life. I was working full-time outside the home. It was not good. I just knew that when all was said and done, I'd be certifiable and committed into a mental institution. By the grace of God, I was not. I must admit, I had a nanny so that is what saved my hide.

This poor mother that called me lives in an apartment, they are a single-income family of 6 and have only one vehicle. I listened to her for about an hour. I knew she needed to unload. She was so frustrated with her husband because he won't help with the kids when he's at home because he "works outside the home" so feels he can lay around on weekends and watch her do it all. I felt so bad for this mom I did what I never thought I would do, I offered to go over and watch her kids for free and cook for them so she and her husband could go out. My ears could hardly believe the very words that had just passed my lips.

A call from my teenage-type offspring needing me to go pick him up from orientation at the college he'll be attending brought me back to reality with a jolt. I told him I'd be right there and clicked over and said my goodbyes to the mom call.

An hour later I get a call again from the same mother asking me if I can do it today, like now. I keep my word as often as I give it unless it is impossible for me to do so. On this day it was meant for me to keep my word. I went to the rescue of this young mother in distress. I figured it wouldn't be too bad and I could relieve her from her workload if but for a couple hours.

I arrived at 1pm waited another hour for them to get ready and I did not leave until 5:45 pm when they got back. Everything went fine, the kids, except for the 7 year old were fine. The baby was such a sweetheart although he did not sleep but for 20 minutes because the others, along with my own 9 yr old, were constantly making noise. Of course, I don't know too many kids in that age range that sit still for more than 2 minutes.

The reason I posted this is because it shed new light on how I admire mothers; especially mothers of multiple children. It's all I can do to keep my household and take care of 2 children and they are far apart in age. So much so that when my son is finished with his masters degree my daughter will just be finishing high school. I am a coward. I can not, for the life of me, even attempt to imagine what it would be like to have more than one kid saying "mom, mom, mom" all the time.

I came to the realization that the saying that God will not give you more than you can handle is, in fact, very true. To all of you supermoms out there, you are my heroes. How in God's green earth can you do it all? I so admire you guys. My mind cannot comprehend all that you do for your families. I am seriously in awe of your talents. God Bless you all!


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