Super Mom
Do you ever look at hollywood or even as close to home as just your facebook account and find all these moms who totally seem like they have it together. You know the perfect soccer moms with amazing kids, perfect hair, rocking little bodies who find the best deals, cook the best meals, bake like there's no tomorrow, craft/home school or whatever they call it, and, of course, always have a mostly, if not perfectly, clean house all while making a mini van look sexy in pictures on facebook? They hike, bike, take pictures on the beach or in the mountains, and don't forget somehow manage to never break a sweat and look model perfect while doing it. We tend to call these women "super moms." Yeah, we all know someone who could fit that category. I am soooo not one of these moms. I'm the mom with a disaster of a house (no matter how hard I try to keep it clean), crazy little daughter that's fearless enough to punch out a boy twice her size if he makes her mad, a husband who comes home looking like Pigpen after work everyday due to all the dirt (which of course winds up all over the house that had been torn to shreds by my daughter), rarely does her makeup unless I am leaving the house for more than just a quick run to the store, wears a messy bun because I don't have time to brush it out most days, gets a shower once a week (maybe twice if it's a really good week, albeit I don't need nearly as many showers as most people due to drier skin, and very little greasy hair), rarely gets a bath (even though I have a perfectly good one), and never is perfectly plucked/shaved/or for that matter fit little body. PJs are the norm (unless I'm leaving the house), and while I cook most nights, dinner from a freezer bag (as long as it's mostly healthy contents) is not a bad thing. More often than not, I am not enough. Please understand that I'm not bashing on the icon of what we call "super moms." I'm merely here to provide a different perspective. So here goes.
Today I decided to bake a cake. And as we all know, I'm not a great baker by any stretch of the imagination. However, that doesn't mean I don't try. So when I do attempt, I never bother going halfway. Where's the fun in that? I pulled out a box cake and canned frosting, whipped up the batter, and realized I had a round pan, and a loaf pan to put cake batter in. Neither of which is large enough to hold the whole cake, so I split it between the two. Of course, I couldn't just frost each one by itself. Nope, I had to build a castle...and not just any castle. I had to try a Frozen castle. Blue frosting and all. First I plopped the round cake on the bottom to create a base on a large platter I've had for a few years and rarely get to use. I coated it in white frosting to look like snow...or at least try to look like snow. Then I started cutting up the loaf cake into long pieces to make walls. I then dyed the rest of the frosting in the can blue and proceeded to frost the walls. Next I took the left over of the loaf cake and cut it into little towers. One for each corner, and frosted them. I had some left over Easter candy (goes to show how much we eat candy in this house) in the form of Frozen themed jelly beans for my daughter. Which of course I stole and turned into the "rocks, crenels (the teeth looking things on top of a castle wall), and the doorway/pathway" on the castle. Every castle needs sentries at the archway door right? Mini chocolate bunnies it was. They are totally intimidating if you can get past the cute way they are holding little eggs with their ears all up. But hey, I wasn't complaining. As I put together this falling apart piece of art, I kept thinking about how there are some many moms who could do this without breaking a sweat and make it look ten times more awesome. And how so many moms wouldn't make the castle look like an upside down table with splayed legs. You know, the super moms who do everything right. The more I thought about it, the more irritated and frustrated at myself I became. And not just at myself, but at the whole image of what moms are "supposed" to be. I wasn't enough to match up to the image. As I finished up the castle, I called Gamer down to look at my measly little castle. As I tried to make fun of it to cover the frustration, he said "honey, it looks fine, and besides if you hate the idea of it as a castle, think of it as a flipped table."
To which I replied "yeah, but all those freaking super moms could have done this so much better."
He looked at me slightly confused, shook his head, and said "Hale, do you know what makes a super mom? It's not being perfect, or making perfect things for your kids. It's listening and being there for them. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you show your kids how much you love them. When is it that something means the most to you from your mom? It's when she shows she cares. Not the gifts she gives you, but the time she spends listening to you, and being there for you. You do that. Every single day. And not only for our kids, but for me too. And that's what makes you a super mom."
I was dumbstruck. Could it be that little totally imperfect, crazy person me was a super mom and I didn't know it? Was it possible that someone who's not what the world might call "super mom" actually what a super mom really was? Did I have it wrong this whole time about what "super mom" is suppose to be? Is a super mom really someone who just loves on their family, and kids more than the activities or things they accomplish? Could it be enough to just be me? As I thought more and more about what he said, I realized how right he really is. Being a super mom isn't about being perfect with perfect kids, and hair and bodies and whatnot. It's about your kids knowing they can come racing to you whenever, where ever, however they need you. It's about being the one they can cuddle with on the couch, and the one they talk to about bad days. It's that God didn't make a mistake in giving our kids the mother he did. We are enough just the way we are. And if we keep doing what we do, we are super moms.
There's a movie called "Mom's Night Out." In it there is a scene that simply reminds me of exactly what God wants me to do as a mom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_aY2M5hxyw This is the link. If you get nothing else out of this whole blog for the day, watch this tiny video. It's what reminds me that I'm enough, as long as I'm just me.
Today I decided to bake a cake. And as we all know, I'm not a great baker by any stretch of the imagination. However, that doesn't mean I don't try. So when I do attempt, I never bother going halfway. Where's the fun in that? I pulled out a box cake and canned frosting, whipped up the batter, and realized I had a round pan, and a loaf pan to put cake batter in. Neither of which is large enough to hold the whole cake, so I split it between the two. Of course, I couldn't just frost each one by itself. Nope, I had to build a castle...and not just any castle. I had to try a Frozen castle. Blue frosting and all. First I plopped the round cake on the bottom to create a base on a large platter I've had for a few years and rarely get to use. I coated it in white frosting to look like snow...or at least try to look like snow. Then I started cutting up the loaf cake into long pieces to make walls. I then dyed the rest of the frosting in the can blue and proceeded to frost the walls. Next I took the left over of the loaf cake and cut it into little towers. One for each corner, and frosted them. I had some left over Easter candy (goes to show how much we eat candy in this house) in the form of Frozen themed jelly beans for my daughter. Which of course I stole and turned into the "rocks, crenels (the teeth looking things on top of a castle wall), and the doorway/pathway" on the castle. Every castle needs sentries at the archway door right? Mini chocolate bunnies it was. They are totally intimidating if you can get past the cute way they are holding little eggs with their ears all up. But hey, I wasn't complaining. As I put together this falling apart piece of art, I kept thinking about how there are some many moms who could do this without breaking a sweat and make it look ten times more awesome. And how so many moms wouldn't make the castle look like an upside down table with splayed legs. You know, the super moms who do everything right. The more I thought about it, the more irritated and frustrated at myself I became. And not just at myself, but at the whole image of what moms are "supposed" to be. I wasn't enough to match up to the image. As I finished up the castle, I called Gamer down to look at my measly little castle. As I tried to make fun of it to cover the frustration, he said "honey, it looks fine, and besides if you hate the idea of it as a castle, think of it as a flipped table."
To which I replied "yeah, but all those freaking super moms could have done this so much better."
He looked at me slightly confused, shook his head, and said "Hale, do you know what makes a super mom? It's not being perfect, or making perfect things for your kids. It's listening and being there for them. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you show your kids how much you love them. When is it that something means the most to you from your mom? It's when she shows she cares. Not the gifts she gives you, but the time she spends listening to you, and being there for you. You do that. Every single day. And not only for our kids, but for me too. And that's what makes you a super mom."
I was dumbstruck. Could it be that little totally imperfect, crazy person me was a super mom and I didn't know it? Was it possible that someone who's not what the world might call "super mom" actually what a super mom really was? Did I have it wrong this whole time about what "super mom" is suppose to be? Is a super mom really someone who just loves on their family, and kids more than the activities or things they accomplish? Could it be enough to just be me? As I thought more and more about what he said, I realized how right he really is. Being a super mom isn't about being perfect with perfect kids, and hair and bodies and whatnot. It's about your kids knowing they can come racing to you whenever, where ever, however they need you. It's about being the one they can cuddle with on the couch, and the one they talk to about bad days. It's that God didn't make a mistake in giving our kids the mother he did. We are enough just the way we are. And if we keep doing what we do, we are super moms.
There's a movie called "Mom's Night Out." In it there is a scene that simply reminds me of exactly what God wants me to do as a mom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_aY2M5hxyw This is the link. If you get nothing else out of this whole blog for the day, watch this tiny video. It's what reminds me that I'm enough, as long as I'm just me.
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