The other night my husband and I curled up on the couch next to the fireplace and watched I Don’t Know How She Does It.
Two things struck me about my own life as I watched this adorable cast of characters in motion:
1) People say this to me all the time (as in How do you do it all?)
2) People cannot be more wrong in that I have it all together.
While it’s super-sweet and almost embarrassing that folks think I have parenting, being a full-time working mom-of-three, blogger and all-around human being worked out, the truth is: I don’t know how to do it. At all.
I just get up every morning and do my damndest to do it. In between things, I pray a lot, because my real life goes something like this:
-Walk into my house and open a closet and you’ll likely be hit with an avalanche.
-Ask my kids’ teachers and I’ll bet you that I’m the one who sent the permission slip in late, came in for the class party out of breath and with the wrong snack, and apologizing to the school office for not sending in a note for the recent sick days.
-Ask my husband and he’ll say I’m the most likely to go to the grocery store with the list still sitting on the kitchen island.
-Ask my boss and she’ll say I probably forgot to send our status report in on time.
-Ask my mom and she’ll tell you my kitchen is a mess of cluttered papers and I am hopelessly disorganized, as she runs circles around me, designing the next drapery design she wants to try out on my kitchen window.
-Ask my running shoes and they’ll whisper is she still alive?
My mom, pictured here with my youngest. I inherited neither of her genes for order nor sewing talent.
I think stay-at-home moms probably feel exactly the same way. In this particular movie the stay-at-home moms were represented by the “Momsters” who were interviewed either working out or carrying armfuls of baked goods into the school (because I’m sure all stay at home moms have loads of time to do both.)
A momster would note defensively “I want to raise my own kids” perfectly stereotyping the mom who is at home yet wondering if she’s missing out, all the while doing an incredibly important job of being a full-time mom. See also: Nicole Unice’s Letter to Stay At Home Moms, one of our all-time most-read posts.
This must-see movie featured the fabulous, beautiful and ridiculously fashionable Sarah Jessica Parker, the worldly, competitive, corporate woman who fiercely forged a career even though it means her incredibly-hunky husband Greg Kinnear was the dad-in-charge. Sarah Jessica, note: I’ll take your figure, fashion, and sex appeal advice anytime, regardless of who you portray on-screen.
My friend Betsy and I at a work function, looking tough. Sometimes I just act like I know what I’m doing . . .and it helps :-)
In short (oops sorry, this is not short at all) this film was highly entertaining and validating to me personally.
As I sit examining my flaws as I approach forty and admiring my blog readers, friends and coworkers on how well-put-together they are as I run from my car without eye makeup, breathless into my first meeting of the day I realize that none of us really does it.
