Confessions: What I HATE about being a mom

Or – DAMMIT – The door is closed!!!!!

Mom’s sacrifice a lot!  We get the short end of the stick daily.  Everyone’s mom has done it. It’s nothing new.  I will scrape the black off the toast, eat a cold dinner, use MY birthday money to buy something for someone else.  I’ll not get something I need (a pap smear, a haircut, a teeth cleaning, an oil change a trip to the dermatologist to name a few) because it’s inconvenient or because someone else in the house has something he wants.  I’ve been covered in and cleaned up all the disgusting and sickening things that moms get covered in. 

There’s one aspect of myself that I simply WILL NOT change because I’m someone’s mother or someone’s wife.  In the name of sanity, privacy, cleanliness and modesty:  Dammit- When the bathroom door is closed DO NOT OPEN IT!  DO NOT OPEN IT!!!!  DO.NOT.OPEN.IT!!!

I have very little privacy or personal space.  Anyone can have access to me anytime, anywhere.  Usually all some has to do is just scream my name.  Reed doesn’t even have to do that because he’s always ALWAYS with me.  Even in the bathroom.  Since today he learned to stand on the pull of the drawer under the oven to reach and open the oven – I’ll never be alone again during waking hours.

Mom’s in the bedroom – open the door and go in.  Mom’s in the closet – open the door and go in.  Mom’s in the laundry room – open the door and go in.  Mom’s in the closet upstairs (on the phone trying to escapes the chaos) – open the door and go in. 

Even if Mom’s in the bathroom, the standard reaction is, you guessed it – open the door and go in.  What the hell?!?!?!  This must stop.  And it’s not just children.  Husband is equally as guilty.  He’s been doing it for years, but feels, I think, even more empowered that that the boys do it. 

Maybe it’s just a “guy” thing, or a lack of modesty on his part, but if I’m in the bathroom, he’ll charge right in and do whatever it is that needs doing.  I might be putting on makeup showering, what have you, and he’ll open the door and begin doing “whatever.”  I would never do that.  Not ever!  Wouldn’t even occur to me.  Not long ago he actually said to me, “Well how will I know if you don’t want me to come in?”  My answer, “THE DOOR WILL BE CLOSED!”  His reply, “Oh, really?”  Just last week he came in the bathroom and I asked, “What do you need?”  To which he replied, “I don’t know.”

Yesterday, Bruce is watching TV in our room.  I walk into the bathroom.  He asks, “Where are you going?  What are you doing?”  That’s one of those moments you remind yourself that children, and husbands for that matter, are a gift from God and I should be thankful. 

One day the door will stay closed (I hope).  So my favorite saying has become my mantra:  “This too shall pass…”  If I was to get another tattoo, that would be it. Maybe I'll get it on the palm of my hand so I can have the message close. 

This too shall pass….   This too shall pass…. This too shall pass….