It's always a little bit awkward when someone asks me what I enjoy as a "hobby". If Jonathan is in the room we kind of look at each other and laugh. I'm just not that kind of girl. I'm not saying I don't want to be. I really would love to be absolutely great at something. Anything. But....
You are never going to see a really great craft idea on my blog. I wish I had something like that to share. Not gonna happen.
I don't take pictures of anything other than my boys. Most of the time I forget the camera anyway.
I don't sew, knit, crochet, quilt, scrapbook...or anything else that takes vision and follow through.
I love to bake, but that's only because I like cookie dough and not because I'm particularly great at creating any dessert.
More often than not, Jonathan comes home from a long day at work and only then do I think about what we could throw together for dinner. I don't meet him at the door in an apron and a house that smells like the next Southern Cook-Off entry.
I use to have an immaculate house. Enough said.
There are days that I feel like I'm drowning by the regular day in and day out activities. I don't know how the supermoms I know have energy (or brain space for that matter) to also take on and be the crafty little devils that they are. And sometimes...I do think they are the devil.
Not REALLY the devil of course. But they definitely add to the sick inner voice that says, "How are you possibly going to do this for the rest of your kids' childhoods when you are hardly hitting the bar today?" And I'm calling that voice out. It is the devil. He hates me. He wants me to fail at this job.
I know that it's important that I only take on what I know I can do. And still...that seems like so little when at the end of the day I take inventory. Are my kids alive? Yes. Yes they are. But oh it would be wonderful to say, "Yes they are and they are wearing clothes that I myself manufactured, they are eating food that I picked right out of the organic garden in our immaculate back yard and I have documented this in a beautiful scrapbook that they will someday cherish and know that their mother loved them with every last drop of her blood."
Okay, I know this is totally unrealistic. But there are OOOODLES of women who have as many things to do as I do and still manage to be amazing at something other than breaking up fights and changing urine soaked sheets. I'd like to be amazing at one thing that doesn't have to do with keeping children alive.
Here's something pathetic. I don't even like to write cards to people because instead of opening it and saying, "Oh that's so nice of her to think of me," I imagine them saying, "Geez! Did a serial killer write this note? Thanks for the thought but grow up and learn how to write for crying out loud." Yeah, I don't even write like a pretty grown up girl. It looks like I'm writing while driving on the road to Hana.
What I'm not asking for is a compliment. I really don't need it. I'm just venting on one of those days when I feel like things are spinning out of control and I don't have the first notion as to how to stop it. And I see moms around me who are doing it with a smile and a sweet homemade accessory in their hair and I can't for the life of me figure out how they are doing it! Is their house a wreck while they put together an amazing quilt for orphans in Africa? No. I've been there. It's not. Are their kids malnourished while they gallivant around taking brilliant pictures at glamorous weddings? Nope. Kids are thriving and healthy. Do they skip showers in order to have fresh baked muffins for breakfast and home cooked...whatever on the table for dinner? Again... no.
So what gives? I don't know. I'm just not that kind of girl and probably never will be. It is time for me to move on.
What I can say for myself is this:
a. My husband knows that I'm madly in love with him. Madly. Maybe pathetically...
b. My boys know that I would drink poison and be skinned alive for them. (Though I hope it never comes to that.)
c. And hopefully at the end of the day, even though they'll never have a scrapbook to prove it, they will all know that I desperately enjoy being the wife and mom that I am to them.
I am grateful for this precious role and for these days that I am reminded all to often... are numbered.
Supermoms: I know this is true for you as well, but I need to be content with these things until I have somehow cracked your secret and arrived at the next level.
Oh Beck, I love you! You and I are SO alike. I called myself a scrapbook-er even though I only did a scrapbook in 2002. I used to make cards for people, now...I just hand people a gift card and say happy birthday. I say I love to bake, but really I only bake chocolate chip cookies (every week). I'm the same way about dinner and when Kyle is at work my idea of dinner is a bowl of cereal because I don't have time. Kyle says I need to get a hobby. I thought I enjoyed taking pictures of nature. That lasted one fall. Anyway, babies are sleeping and I enjoyed reading your blog. Just thought I would share. Love you!
ReplyDeleteYou amaze me, and.....you are my hero!
ReplyDeletei so love your honesty and always have and always will. You say it from your heart. You say things i am thinking but have not had the guts or opportunity or Blog to say it. hahah you make normal life look so great!!! because it is the little things that build the foundations of our day and life!! I am so glad you are my Friend!!! love you julie
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I hate to cook, the guys at McDonalds and Little Cesars and I are actually on a first name basis, Emme knows how to say "arriba" from watching too much Dora the Explorer, we only clean our bathroom every 4-6 months, we have something like 25 burned out light bulbs, and my kids never have anything hot for breakfast unless it pops out of the toaster. But I DO have a color-coded calendar. My color is turquoise.
ReplyDeleteI like your style Beck, and I can guarantee that once a second baby pops out, those handmade hair accessories will be 4 seasons out of style because I won't have had time to do ANYTHING anymore! Two boys is A LOT, and you set the bar not on the menial things (like crafting and cooking) but on love. :)
ReplyDeleteBeck, It's so fun to see you walk through this motherhood thing! Wow, the balance of life, mothering, help-meeting is beautiful and exhausting and overwhelming, and etc, etc. As a mom, wife, and teacher I can easily sink into the comparison pit and barely make it out alive. Although I am quite crafty and a dedicated "cooker-lady" and gardener, I have come to realize that either I don't sleep to get it all done (which makes for terrible days) or the normal (clean house, laundry done, lesson plans prepared) fall by the wayside. It's a precarious balance and I stay up way too late, get up early and have very little down time to get all the things done. And in the end, on the days I pile my plate too full, I feel worse about not looking my kids in the eye than I EVER feel about not getting the laundry done. I rarely take time for myself... something I am working on. I guess this is my encouraging word- just enjoy. Enjoy who you ARE. You realize your limitations and instead of trying to become something you aren't, you relax into who you are. That is HUGE and a wonderful lesson to those who strive to become and lose what's already there. I'm sure you are a doing a wonderful job mothering your baby boys- and that's what matters most. You know them, their hearts, their worries and fears, you know what they pray for and what their favorite books are. You look them in the eye and explain their world and reveal God's work and wonder to them- live in this. Peace to you today, sweet friend.
ReplyDeleteBeck, You are a great writer! Don't we all feel like this?! I've been know to be a little crafty from time to time, but everything else slides and is a disaster! I don't cook, don't bake, don't scrapbook, shower every other day, the house is a mess, and it's a challenge to keep the kids bathed and in clean socks and underwear. I loved one of the other comments, your gift is loving people! You make everyone feel important and valued, including us. So thankful to call you friend. Lora
ReplyDeletein my eyes you are a super mom in so many ways.over the years i have thought i wish i could be more like you...just know that!thanks for being an awesome example for me
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