"Just Mom"

FINALLY! MY COLLEGE FINALS ARE OVER!!!! Somehow, I managed to get A's on every final I took in addition to all of the work I had to do prepping for Christmas. *Cue the Hallelujah chorus!*

Now I get to go back to a couple joyous weeks of getting to "just" be mom. Although I am looking forward to becoming a teacher, I can say without a doubt that this time with my boys is one I treasure. I will never get a chance to be their "mommy" again, and I am determined to give them my absolute best.

To me, "just" mom is so much more than the cynical lot who tout the idea that stay-at-home mothers are a bunch of bonbon eating, couch surfing, lazy women. I play hide and seek in the dark, bake cookies from scratch, take the kids to our local theme park at least once a week in the summer, and monogram their preschool nap blankets so that they can take one look at my handiwork and know they are loved.

Even as a single mother, I tend to shoot higher than we are taught to reach as mothers today. Since the oppressive days of the 1950's housewife (for some women), we were taught to rebel against the "stereotype" and become women of importance. Break the glass ceiling. Shatter expectations. Be extraordinary.

To me, however, being "extraordinary" involves doing the "ordinary" with zeal. "Just" being their mom. Making my children's characters, lives and comfort my priority.

Granted, it isn't easy raising three boys alone. Sometimes I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle every time I get out of bed. They don't come when they're called. Getting them ready in the morning is like wrestling butter-slathered wild hyenas. Their hair has their dad's texture and it looks wild if it isn't 1/2" long. They often get stains on their clothes that I can't get out. I have my hair in a ponytail at least 4 days a week. My makeup and clothes are largely from Costco.

It isn't glamorous.

In spite of the fact that I don't live a picture-perfect Betty Crocker life, I do have my great-grandmother's collection of aprons proudly on display at home. They remind me of a time when being a mother was a woman's first priority. When I'm feeling like the housework is even too overwhelming to begin, I put one on and feel like "SUPERMOM" instead of "just mom". I dust. I shine. I fold. I iron. I CONQUER.