Alcohol and Prayers..

Sometimes I get told, "I don't know how you do it!" to which I almost always reply, "alcohol and prayers." That normally gets me a chuckle or two but little do they know, I'm being absolutely serious. I'll take time now to insert a well placed disclaimer- I am not an alcoholic. I'm actually allergic to alcohol (feel sorry for me now folks!). The first thing you have to realize is that there is not one mother in the world who hasn't thought at some point in their life (at least once anyway) of either A. becoming an alcoholic or B. getting some Prozac. Fear not, ladies, I am with you. Many days I get up thinking how blessed I really am to have this life. I have the love an incredible man and I am the mother to 6 children who teach me more and more each day......but then there are the OTHER days. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. It's those days we don't talk about because it would burst the little "perfect" bubble we've built with Facebook status updates. Those days when we hide in our bathroom and just scream very loudly to keep from throwing every SINGLE pointy hotwheel on the floor away. While you're in the bathroom screaming (and simultaneously nursing the cut on your foot from said hotwheel), you think to yourself, "what has my life become?" But here is the second thing and it's even more important than the first thing- you are not alone in this. Every mother feels like a failure every now in then. Our kids remind us almost daily, in fact. It could be when you're in the doctors' office and they tell the doctor how you bribed them with pixi sticks to get them to pick up their room or it could be in church when they tell the Pastor that you had to open a brand new bottle of Moscato because you finished the last one already. It could be anywhere and rest assured, it will be wherever is most inconvenient for you. This is probably about the time Prozac starts looking good. I've been there and I'm sure most of my readers can relate. It's not easy. Aside from marriage, parenting is singularly the most difficult thing you will ever do in your entire life if you choose to have children. But aren't there are so many sweet moments that make you forget about the disaster your day was? You forget the fact that you have food all over your shirt from a one year old with great aim, that you're wearing mismatched socks because you didn't have time to match them before you left the house or that your kid has managed (yet again) to end up with gum in her beautiful curls even though you searched the house high and low and could find no gum! One little, tiny whisper of "mommy" will make it all better. One little puff of their breath on your cheek as you carry them to bed and you're back to dreaming of having another baby. That, my dear, is when you take my third bit of advice- put your babies to bed, sit down on the sofa in the eerily quiet house and open up that new bottle of Moscato. One glass is all you need. I'm a firm believer that a good book, a circle of great friends and a glass of wine can take away just about any pain. Just remember that you, my friend, are not alone.