A Frazzled Working Mom

I love my job! I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, and after many detours, disappointments and professional dissatisfaction, God opened up great doors of opportunity for me to finally get into the field of education. However, the fact that I really enjoy what I do for a living does not mean that teaching is easy or that I don’t have to work like a dog, day in and day out – (now that I have a dog, I really don’t know why this saying implies that working like a dog means working hard…if you ever see my dog, he is NOT AT ALL the picture of hard work…on the contrary…he is the living and breathing picture of a BUM!)

But I digress…

My point is, working full time outside the home, at any job, regardless of how much you love it, is HARD! Throw in a couple of kids, a lazy dog and a husband (just to clarify, I’m talking about two distinct people here, a dog person and a husband person…I never meant to say that my husband is a lazy dog)…anyway, throw all those things in a pot and you are swamped…up-side-down in the creek…drowning … praying for early retirement.

My responsibilities at work have grown exponentially in the 10 years I’ve been at my current job; and as much as I love the excitement of the whole thing…I come home exhausted…ready to collapse. But guess what? I can’t!!! Why not? Well…as all Moms reading this know, coming home means only one thing: the beginning of your REAL JOB!

I open the door and all I want to do is take my shoes off because my feet hurt, but I can’t because I have to take the dog out first. My back is killing me so all I want to do is sit for a few minutes in my comfy recliner, but I can’t because son A just came back home from school and he needs help with homework or getting some obscure supply for some school-project he had forgotten he had and of course is due tomorrow! I’m hungry because I had to skip lunch, but I can’t eat because son B came back from school and he shows me he failed two tests and have to do some remediation work. I’m still hungry, but I still can’t eat because there is no food cooked, and it’s like 30 minutes till husband comes home. So I better whip something up in the kitchen fast, where’s that 30-minute meal chick?

I finally get to eat some cold scraps, and I go upstairs to take a shower because I stink (feeling blessed that husband is taking care of the dishes) but then I realize that I (and evidently neither does anybody else in the house) have NOT any clean underwear because the laundry is still neatly sitting in 6 piles on the floor.

All I want to do then is sit in front of the TV and watch a silly movie to chill, but I can’t because I have a tower of papers to grade. The night is fleeting by and my head is about to explode; but it’s time to corral the kids to bed.

I come back to my bedroom, take a sad look at the ungraded pile of papers, another at the unwashed piles of clothes and one at the bed…guess where I head next? I close my eyes for a second, and it is morning again…I am having a déjà vu.

This is the life I chose when I accepted my jobs of wife, mother and teacher…this is the life I pray the Holy Spirit allows me to lead in a way that brings Glory to my Father in Heaven as I plow through the events of each day. This is the life I pray I can live without forgetting that only prayer and the Divine Hand of My Creator will help me find the purpose of its design and humbly accept the blessing of His provision.