Now I Get It

As a career woman for a number of years, I remember seeing Moms at lunch, the store, the movies, anywhere and everywhere looking like that. “The look” my friend and I would name it.

We were certain that the “look” was a top five factor in the reason for so many divorces. How could they? Why would they? We would never look like that-or them. To us, it was both tragic and a tragedy.

They seemed oblivious. The pants were too short. The old t-shirt was christened by several stains. The shoes? They had to be at least several years old-the style long gone. And make-up? None, nada, nothing-not even a hint of lip gloss! And the hair? Well, either short or tossed in a pony tail-a five minute do either way.

I would not have left my house looking like they did! I would want to look better for me, my husband and the world I would think to myself.

And then it happened. I became a Mother. I became one of them. I needed no initiation, no pieces of advice, no dress code regulations-it just happened.

A good day became one in which my clothes contained minor wrinkles and a few recent stains. A great day was one of matching socks-for me. If I was wearing make-up, matching socks, unstained and non-wrinkled clothing-I knew I had passed on to the other side…and I don’t mean the street!

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now became a motto for me as a Mom (as well as the bladder control medication) because if you didn’t go right then-you couldn’t go at all! Between potty breaks, diaper changes, multiple feedings, bag “packings”, coupon clipping, note writing, burping, clean up shifts, snacks and meals, there is only a small window of opportunity. See, Moms do have a choice sometimes. Look good and stay home or just go right now –as is!

So, it is not about vanity, it is about choices. Shrieks of laughter from your daughter coming down the park slide, lunch and a support session with another Mom at Chick-Fi-La, watching your daughter in her school’s parade with her hat upside down, going to the grocery store to make a special birthday cake for your husband is worth more than lip stick and a coiffed do any day.

So, I became one of them. My clothing is stained, my shirts are almost always stained, my favorite sandals have a whole in them, I can’t find my blush and my hair is almost always up…and I have never been more joyful.

Now, I get it.