Taxi Driver, Coach, Nurse, Chef and More= A Mom

It is 3:00 pm on Saturday and I can’t help but smile when I think of all the different hats that we wear as parents. In the past 24 hours I have driven almost 100 miles, literally spending 7 hours in the car yesterday afternoon, and I didn’t even leave town! That was only to drive to and from schools, practices, and games with the kids. When I finally got home last night I swear to you my butt was numb! This morning we were up early and off to soccer games for the younger three where I found myself cheering one minute and the next minute I was explaining to a tearful five year old that playing goalie is hard and scary and that letting a ball go by is okay. Then home to make lunch for the gang, only to realize that I REALLY need to go to the grocery store. In a pinch, I found my inner TopChef and whipped up a great lunch of egg salad (love it how a half-dozen eggs with a litte mayo and mustard expands to feed a dozen). There were five bags of bread, but each one seemed to contain only two or three pieces. I pieced together a variety of multi-colored sandwiches made out of bagels, white bread, wheat bread, and pita bread. Within minutes after lunch, the phone starts ringing. The kids start asking if their friends can come over. So here it is a little after three and I have nine kids happily playing and three more that will be here in a few minutes. And I am so happy and content. The sounds of the younger kids squealing fills my heart and the laughter coming from my teenagers room is the best. I don’t think I can ever tell my older girls how much it means to me when they are here, when their friends like Claudia, Maria, and Dana, coming in the front door and yell, “Hey Mama Blythe”. They could hang out other places, but to have them comfortable being here is really special. Take a small portion of my day and depending what time it is I might look like a taxi driver, a coach, a nurse or a chef. But the one hat that never comes off….and my favorite one of all, is the one called mom.