My husband slathered the boys in sunscreen, gathered towels, various garb, snacks, drinks and herded the boys down the street to the neighborhood pool. The door closed behind them. Good. I was about to meltdown and cause more harm than a nuclear explosion. It had been that hard of a day. I sat down and wept.
Recently, I have "met" several mothers online who are in the beginning stages of parenting children with special needs and others who are feeling helpless in the middle of the process. They've sent me emails and/or left comments on my blog stating how they admire my ability to "do it all"; that they marvel at "how I get it all done"; wondering "how I can be so strong and patient". I'm afraid that perhaps you've been misled, and I do NOT want to seemingly set unattainable standards for you to emulate. You need to see the disheveled, insane woman that is me. Some days there ain't enough chocolate in the world.
(I'm fine...it's to squelch rumors life is all pretty and perfect here.*smile*)
Here on my blog I don't often talk about the bad days mainly because when blogging, I would prefer to let go of thoughts of the trying moments and focus on the humor and the photos I've taken. In reality a part of each of my days is a bad day, but so is everyone's. I do strive to find the humor in every moment of my life for what good does it do to constantly whine or fret. Humor gets me through. Focusing on the happy, fun aspects of parenting my special purpose sons is how I choose to live. It's how I remain sane or at least hold on to the appearance of sanity.
You also need to know it is not an "I" effort, but rather a "we" effort. First of all, I depend on my Christian faith. God holds me up.
Second, I depend on my husband. There is no way I could nor was ever meant to "do it all". People, in my opinion my man deserves sainthood. Many are the days their dad comes home from a long day of work and takes the boys. Completely takes the boys from the house for some fun or sends me somewhere...alone. He understands the stress I deal with having three against one while homeschooling them through various abilities and needs five days a week. If the boys and I are tying up loose ends of homeschool when he arrives home, he'll prepare dinner which we always eat as a family...together. He is almost always the parent supervising the rambunctiousness that is bath time at our house. We go through administering medications, Lee's injection, games, discussions, reading aloud...together. We tuck them in after family Bible study and prayers...together. We take turns putting them back in bed because each child deals with trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. We then collapse...together.
While I have journalized a few of the hard times here at Slurping Life, perhaps I need to do it a little more often. Oh no, not a whine fest, but a reality check. Just so my adored regular readers and new people who venture by are not misled. So that everyone knows I can't and don't do it all; don't have the patience of a saint; screw up constantly; often feel totally inadequate, stressed to the gills, throw up my hands in defeat and cry like a baby about it all. And none of these things makes me OR you a failure at motherhood. It means we are human.
So as parents let's continue to support one another...laughing and crying together...deal?
