Did She Just Say That?

Being a mom is an exhausting adventure. On a daily basis, you have one, maybe two, great things happen with your kids and then a landslide of disaster or the unexpected comes from your current environment, which can include anyone or anything. Today that landslide was my mother.

Her Dr. Jekyll-Ms. Hyde disorder, constantly stresses me out. I never know what to expect when she walks in the door. Some days she’s pleasant other days I just wonder how I made it this far.

I’ve been looking for an affordable place since Thanksgiving. What’s the deal with people not liking dogs. Sometimes I feel like I’m never going to get out of here. It’s pretty depressing. I might have to take up pole dancing because my writing gigs aren’t cutting it and blogging isn’t making me any money, but it sure is relieving my stress and I got plenty of it. Then author Eckhart Tolle reminds me why someone like me is in this condition … “Stress is caused by being  ‘here,’ when you want to be ‘there.'”

So as you might have guessed, this whole environment is contaminated with stress. Especially when she drops the comment. The one that gets under your skin…the one that just makes you exhale because you have absolutely no fuel left in the tank to respond.

After your normal craziness with kids: cooking, dinners, meals, dishes, sweeping, diapers, bottles, bath times and bed times, which incidentally began at 5:47 this morning and was ending at 9:24 p.m., you’re in the kitchen filling up your kid’s sippy cup when your mother is putting away some dishes and she says…”God I can’t believe how lazy you’ve gotten.”

Exhale…deep breaths…counting to ten in both languages, telling that vein in your forehead to retreat because it sounds even worse in Spanish.

Your amazed at your restraint as you sit speechless next to your son … and then he melts away the anger with a few little words. “Thanks for my water mom. I ‘preciate you. You’re a good mom.”

 Dude.