A Mother's Work is Never Done

While I was doing my nightly chores (putting my house back together before my rugrats tear it all up again in the morning) I was reflecting on the words a sweet friend said to me.

How in the world do I do what I do every day.  Day in and day out?  Especially with a husband who is rarely around (and deployed at the moment)?  The answer...I HAVE NO CLUE!!

My boys wake up with the sun (sometimes before!) and my day starts.  Making their breakfast, getting them dressed and ready for the day (however we do have days where we stay in jammies all day!).  Then my 7 month old daughter is up and rearing to start her day.  Changing her diaper, getting her dressed, and making her breakfast.  Then I feed her, clean her up.  Of course before all this I have to let our two dogs outside and make sure they have fresh water.  Then I start on cleaning the kitchen, but not before I sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee!

During the day, I am preparing meals, doing laundry, answering a billion and one questions for my curious 4.5 year old, making phone calls, paying bills, keeping appointments, running errands, grocery shopping, preparing care packages for my Soldier, doing arts and crafts with the boys, playing with my kids, taking care of the dogs, bathing kids, putting them to bed, feeding the dogs, etc.  Once my kids are in bed I tackle the house.  I pick up, clean dishes, fold laundry, vacuum, clean the floors, the bathrooms, put the house back together again.

While doing all of this I am running two small home business, going to school for my Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice, our FRG Secretary, and the Village Deputy Mayor (for the on post housing village I live in).  I am not only the mother, but the fill in dad when my husband is answering the Army's call.  I'm 19 hours from our families and 17 hours from my best friend.

To be frank, I never thought of myself as anything special.  I mearly thought I was just doing my job as a wife and mother.  All of the above is what is to be expected, right?  I know I'm not alone.  I just go about my daily life with a smile on my face.  Truth is, I love my life.  While there are ups and down, good days and HORRIBLE days, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Would it be nice to be around family?  Would it be nice to have a helping hand once in a while?  Sure!!  But this is the life my husband and I chose.  With it comes many securities that I'm not ready to let go of.  So while I do have friends out there that look at me as some Super Woman, I am not.  I'm just an ordinary person.  I'm just a mother and a wife....who happens to have a husband/daddy in the Army.

I HAVE to live with this kind of perspective on life.  I spent the first couple years of my husbands career in the Army feeling sorry for myself.  We have, more often then not, been "out of sight, out of mind" when it comes to our family back home.  And due to that, I don't want to go back.  I refuse to live with that sadness in my heart and the bitterness.  This has been an emotional roller coaster of a ride for me the last several years but I've come to find my place, I've come to realize who I am.

I had often doubted myself and my capabilities as a mother and wife.  But I know that I am a damned good wife and mother!  But I also know that I do not "deserve" to be praised for it, nor to I expect to be held to any other standard than anyone else.

I guess I kind of got sidetracked here with my ramblings as I often do, but I just needed to jot all of this down while I had a few minutes to myself before I hit the shower and read my devotionals.

Stay tuned.  This weekend I should be blogging about our newest care packages we'll be sending out to daddy!!

xoxo