7 Fringe-y Benefits of Mommyhood
I am all about finding the happy in a sea of crap. It doesn’t always work out that way, and sometimes I have to just accept that it is a sea of crap and walk away. I always try to find the lesson that I am supposed to learn from the sea of crap, though, so…there’s that.
So! Without further ado, I give you my (partial) list of some awesome fringe benefits of being a mom….once you look past the drool on my shirt, of course – the shirt I am currently wearing at work.
Sick Babies. Hear me out! Of course I don’t love it when my daughter gets sick….but when she does, who stays home from work? THIS GIRL. Can you say Yoga Pants & Ice Cream Wednesday??
Yoga Pants. What IS yoga, exactly? Anyone?
Excuses for EVERYTHING. “Oh, damn, I am SO sorry I can’t make it to your Commitment/Love/Togetherness/Insert-it-here Ceremony being performed by a toga-wearing yogi on Thursday night. Baby goes to bed at 7!”
Reasons to be Offended. Not that I look for reasons to be offended, but my sense of social outrage has never had so many outlets. I’m not even kidding…before I had my daughter, I never really paid attention to how shitty the messages are that are sent to women by the media – and, to my surprise, by people around me! As I reached adulthood I learned to ignore them, but when I was younger, I didn’t – and I wish I had. I am going to spend more time on positive messages to counteract that, and hopefully I can make a dent in the pile of crap she will face.
My Vagina Trumps ALL. That’s right, I use it: “I gave birth to it, I get to name it.” “Sorry, I pushed out a human, I am too good to mow the lawn now.” “Excuse my loud belch, but you know….I *did* push a rather large little person out of my body.”
Everyone Loves Babies. And the love given to mine makes me see a better, more giving side of the world. Which kind of goes against my ramped-up outrage, but now I can do it with a smile!
Learning How to Give Up. I am a reformed control freak (and by reformed I mean I am working on it – hourly); learning how to give that up has been equal parts terrifying and incredibly freeing. I am discovering that no, it actually doesn’t matter HOW a task gets done…it’s that it gets done. Sure makes it easier to take when I see a diaper on backwards. It’s on, ain’t it??
These are just a few of my perks; there are so, SO, many more than this. Like when my baby learned to lean out to ‘give’ me a kiss. When she learned what “Can Mommy have a hug” meant. When she said “I love you” for the first time. The feelings these little things evoke in me is like nothing I have ever felt before, which clearly means I DO have a heart!
What are some of yours??
