Reason #163 Why Being a Mom is Awesome, and Why I Should Never Own Anything Nice. Like, Ever, Or at Least Not For the Next 13 Years

This first appeared on my personal blog, www.popsiculture.com, but I wanted to share it with you because we have all been there!

So, February was a month from hell.  I worked every single day racking up a total of 250+ hours that month.  I work from home, so it’s not all bad, and I get to work in my pjs, so I can’t complain about that.  Every day, I would drop my daughter off at school, run home and jump on the computer, only to realize the day was done and it was time to pick her up again.

Not wanting to pick her up in the same state I dropped her off, I forced myself to take a quick shower and get ready 10 minutes before getting her.  It occurred to me at some point that should anything happen to her at school, and should the school have to call me to pick her up earlier than her release time, then my strategy was greatly flawed.  The only way to fix my strategy would be to wake up earlier, take a shower at the beginning of the day, and be ready for whatever the day may bring.

Wake up earlier?  Shame on you for even entertaining such a silly idea.  So, it’s no surprise that during my month of hell, the school called at Noon to say my daughter had thrown up and could I please come pick her up from the nurse’s office.  Immediately.  With no time to get ready, I was forced to pick her up basically still in my pajamas.  At Noon.

While standing in the front office, talking to the nurse, I noticed my daughter was as white as a sheet.  She was clinging to my leg and looking rather unsteady, so I asked her if she needed me to carry her?  She did, so I swooped her up, then dropped my wallet which was nestled in my arm pit.

As I was bending down to pick my wallet up, I heard the unmistakable sounds of a gurgling stomach and my daughter saying “Oh no” as she proceeded to throw up all over me, her, and my wallet on the floor, “Parenthood” style.  This wasn’t any wallet, it was my LAMB wallet.  My Gwen Stefani wallet.  The nicest wallet I own.

We left the building faster than Elvis, made it home, threw our clothes in the washing machine, jumped in the shower, and relaxed for the rest of the day, because whatever was ailing her at school, now seemed to have passed.  I did the best I could cleaning my wallet, but still, it was puked on and it will never be the same.

The reality is we all want nice stuff, but having kids makes it challenging.  Because today, she’s throwing up on my wallet, in 10 years, she’ll be “borrowing” it.  If I get too wrapped up in keeping my nice things nice, then I’m missing the point.  The point is, puke happens, and I just have to deal with it.  Hopefully, with a smile on my face.