MOVarazzi

Thursday, April 7, 2011

374. Motherhood is Un

Unacceptable, unintentional, uninspiring, unfashionable. This is not the vocabulary of a childless single person. But these are the letters that spell mommy.

My life is a swirl of things left undone. Time eludes me as I attempt to accomplish everything on my unglamorous and unrelenting “To Do” list. Items remain unwritten because the same nagging task will still be there tomorrow, and the day after that, and (who are we kidding?) until next September.

Unmade beds, unwashed dishes, undone laundry, unclean bathrooms—for starters. My house will, unfortunately, never be mistaken for an advertisement for Comet or Windex (unless it is the cringe-inducing “Before” photo). Our front entry is littered with unopened mail and unreturned library books. As I type this, unanswered emails flash at me, begging for attention. I trip over un-put-away toys when I walk to the bathroom to look in the unpolished mirror. I try to assess exactly how bad my un-showered self looks (with un-brushed hair, natch). Bad. Un-good.

I go around the house, doing the necessary chores and pretending that the house won’t morph back into this unkempt, unruly state in approximately 24 hours. I’m making unprecedented strides and the house is reacting uncertainly to my unleashed zeal (I overhear the kitchen door mumble to the stove, “I don’t understand; this is so unusual … has she come unglued?”). And the bonus of the unexpected: I’m no longer unhappy, because my uncontainable enthusiasm is undeniable!

Just now, my freighbor brings Tall and Short home from a playdate. Both boys simultaneously lean in toward me to give a big bear hug, almost tipping me over.

Ah, my favorite “un.” Unconditional love.

MOV

6 comments:

  1. So glad to see you back to posting more than just once a week. My kids are grown and have families of their own, but I can so remember all the things you write about. Enjoy and embrace every single moment, it will be just a fleeting memory before you know it.

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  2. Thank you! I guess I just couldn't stay away. :) Although, I do plan to dial it back a bit from my hyper-obsessive ultra posting (3x per day, anyone?), I aim to strike a good balance of creating readable (and polished) content with living what passes for a "normal" life in my household. My broken computer was actually a good lesson for me to slow it down and focus on things away from cyber-space.
    Best,
    MOV

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  3. motherhood certainly makes one appreciate the "little" things. Mine is 19 now and very independent and busy with her own life even though she lives at home while she is in college. I hardly see her anymore, but she often comes to just "hang" with mom - sort of a check in moment or two a week. Love those moments.

    I still cant get my house/life back to normal. Im not sure I know what normal is - motherhood makes you lose sight of that really quickly!

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  4. Jennie-- my whole life is "little things": little wrinkles, little gray hairs, little dust bunnies littered around my house....
    MOV

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  5. This describes my life so well. I needed it this morning.

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When you write a comment, it makes me feel like I won the lottery or at the very least like I ate an ice-cream sundae. (This has nothing to do with the fact that I did just eat an ice-cream sundae.)