Thursday 15 April 2010

Why being a mother is a life sentence: two examples


This was meant to be my week off work, where I'd imagined myself walking the dog every day, sleeping in a little, doing some writing, reading and catching up with a couple of friends for coffee.

In YA drEaMs LoVE!

I am a mother, so the week has comprised cleaning, cooking, dealing with several major breakdowns, ranting and handing over money like I've just won LOTTO.


Example 1: Missy Hissy, 13, had planned to go to the Sydney Royal Easter Show with friends she knew vaguely through sailing. However, most dropped out so Spanner and I decided she shouldn't go.

Her reaction: "I hate you Mum. Sometimes I say I hate you and I don't mean it, but today I really mean it."

For the rest of the day, she followed me around crying, whinging and generally making me feel like I was the baddest mother (not in the positive hip-hop sense of the term).

At one point, I was lying down doing exercises for my bad back and she got down next to me and began to sob - really close to my ear.

Example 2: The bedroom of my eldest daughter, Precious Princess, resembles a tip. Yesterday when I walked in to look for something (it might have been my makeup, the phone or my wallet), she was in her usual position - lying on her back on the bed, under the doona, with the computer propped up on her stomach.

Amongst the mess on the floor I spotted a piece of a broken bowl, which was encrusted with dried cereal. Surrounding it was fragments of porcelain.

"What's this?" I asked. "You've got to tidy this up."

The response was fired back at machine-gun speed: "Yes, yes, yes, yes, I know, I know, I know, I know. Now go!"

It's no wonder I drink, and not just coffee.

4 comments:

AJ Blythe said...

I know what it's like Shayne. We're going away in May for 1 week, and I'm cooking like crazy, freezing meals in the hope that I'll have a break too - not just have same job, different location!

Shayne said...

Have an excellent adventure! get those meals done now so you can put up your feet and send the kids off witb Dad!

Jenn J McLeod - Australia's small town storyteller said...

you crack me up. I LOVE your blog humour.

Shayne said...

Thanks Jenn.
I have a deep well of stories from which to draw upon.

This is my life.