Mother's Day

The day began at 10am and as it was Mother's Day I was given the rare privilege of sleeping in. I awoke to the scents of coffee and breakfast. I got up, put on the fluffy robe that had been thoughtfully laid next to my bed, and walked out of my freshly vacuumed bedroom, pausing only to blow out a cherry scented candle that had been lit for me. I went downstairs into my gleaming clean kitchen to see that the table had been set for me with fresh flowers. My 2 beautiful children ran to hug meand give me hand made cards and drawings that express their love and gratitude for their one and only "Momma". I went to take a bubble bath, with only the sound of Mozart softly playing in the bathroom. I came out and effortlessly pulled on my size 4 jeans and a top that made me look adult and cute at the same time. My family was ready to go when I came out, with a fully stocked diaper bag and plans to head to the Art Institute and lunch at a trendy new outdoor cafe. After a pleasant day out, I returned to my home to watch a Disney movie with the kids while my loving husband said "Don't worry about laundry or bills or anything today. I've got it covered. Oh, and dinner will be ready in 20 minutes."

In actuality I will wake up to the shrieks of my 18 month old as he tries to escape his play pen/prison. My 7 year old will whine about not being able to play video games, not having his friends over, and not being leader of the free world. My husband will burn the coffee and my room will be covered with whatever my dog decided to shred in the 5 seconds she was left alone in there. I will get 1 Hallmark card that no one remembered to sign. Bubblebath will be replaced with showering 2 small children and then being left with only cold water for myself. And wish as I may, those jeans will still be a size 10. After an hour of standing at the door shouting "Come on guys LET'S GO we don't have all day" we will finally leave, only to get 2 blocks away and realize there are no diapers in the diaper bag, and my 7 year old has to use the bathroom. Sidewalk cafe lunch turns into Denny's, and all our orders will be wrong. Frustrated, I will walk into my house and realize I have no clean clothes, the kids have no clean clothes, and the dog has shredded my checkbook. I will have thrown dishes in the dishwasher and forgotten to start it, so there will be no clean dishes either. My toddler will be overtired and threatening to blow up, so I will collapse into bed with him,thankful that Mother's Day is only once a year.