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Broke Wife, Big City
But where’s my
gold star?
By Aprill Brandon
The one thing I probably hear the most since having children? (Besides “whoa, you look tired”).
“You are so lucky
you get to stay home with your kids.”
There are different versions of this, of course. All with fun varying
degrees of passive-aggressiveness.
“I’d love to spend
all day in my pajamas doing nothing.”
“I hope you
appreciate it. I die a little inside when I drop my children off at
daycare.”
“It must be nice
not working a real job and having all that extra time for your little
writing hobby.”
But what it all eventually boils down to is “you, lady, have it made
and are not allowed to complain.”
It doesn’t seem to matter that it’s not actually luck. It’s a decision
we made based on our economic reality. We are right in that
not-so-sweet spot of middle class where my income would have been
pretty much the exact price tag of a semi-reputable daycare facility
(and trust me, we looked at all of them, including JoJo’s Discount Kid
Farm).
And it doesn’t matter that it is actually just like a “real” job
(albeit with a much less strict dress code). If it wasn’t a job, we
wouldn’t pay other people to watch our kids when we can’t.
And it doesn’t seem to matter that in this country we treat
stay-at-home moms with the same level of respect we treat line jumpers
and broccoli pizza. Because Americans love nothing more than demanding
a woman do something and then treating her with disdain when she does
it.
Everyone still feels the need to inform me that I have somehow hit the
life jackpot.
None of that really bothers me though. I spent many years as a
journalist, which just did a terrific job of stomping my give-a-crap
meter to death. Plus, I really do love that I’m able to stay home with
my littles. They’re great fun to be around and super chill about when
the microwave is dirty.
Still, there is one thing about my stay-at-home status that I do
struggle with, one thing I can’t quite get over. Because the hard part
is also the best part. I have no boss. No higher-ups. No co-workers or
peers.
So, I’ll play Super Mom all day. Racing cars on the floor, reading
books over and over, handling potential meltdowns like a seasoned
hostage negotiator. I’m goofy. I’m delightful. I’m gentle yet firm,
like a white, female Morgan Freeman.
And then, about 20 minutes before my husband gets home, all hell breaks
loose. Only this time, it’s the 17th time its broken loose. And…
I.
JUST.
CAN’T.
ANYMORE.
So I lose my temper. Which makes everything one thousand times worse.
Meaning when he walks in the door, 4 out of 5 times, I am losing my
mind and both kids are crying and the stupid dog won’t stop barking.
(And that fifth time, everything is on fire and I’m calmly sitting on
the living room floor drinking wine straight from the bottle).
That’s his most common image of me. Screaming, yelling, crying,
cursing, laughing manically, with macaroni in my hair and baby poop on
my pants.
And it’s not just with him. In public, when my toddler is walking with
the speed of a sloth high on oxy, do I yell at him to hurry up? No.
Even though he is slowly killing my soul because, seriously, how is it
humanly possible to move this slow? No. Even though it’s 17 degrees out
and my back is screaming because I’m carrying his sister, who is the
world’s heaviest 15 pounds? No.
And when he asks me 33 times in a row if he can have a cookie when
we’re done shopping, do I explode that 34th time? No. Or when he spills
my expensive coffee even though I told him explicitly to knock it off
before he spills my expensive coffee? No.
Which, of course, no one sees. What they do see, however, is when I
finally do explode because he purposely hit his baby sister because I
wouldn’t buy him some dumb toy he doesn’t even really want anyway. And
all they see is the horrible mother holding a screaming baby and
yelling at the adorable toddler who has perfected the giant crocodile
tear.
It’s not fair, you guys.
No one sees the good stuff. No one sees Super Mom.
And yeah, yeah, even though no one saw it, I know it still counts and
my kids will grow up to be great humans because I am a great mom when
no one is looking and blah, blah, bibbity-blah. But this is 2017. If
you go somewhere and don’t take a selfie, did you really go? If you
walk somewhere and aren’t wearing a Fitbit, did it really count? If you
prick me, do I not bleed? I do, but only because I tweeted about the
random cray-cray who stabbed me. #anyonegotabandaid
I want credit, dammit. A gold star. Where are my stickers and lollipops
for not biting my kid back when he bites me for the fourth time that
day?
Sigh. Guess I’ll just have to settle for more wine and…ugh…an intrinsic
sense of self-worth at a job (mostly) well done.
Can’t get enough of Aprill? Can’t wait until next week?
Check out her website at http://aprillbrandon.com/
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