Being a working mother...sort of.

I have the unique opportunity to be a full-time stay-at-home mother, who also happens to work. Weird right? It is, truly a weird experience sometimes. It is exhausting at times. This week I have my 3rd consecutive run of shows (musical theater accompanying and vocal directing) and being away from my kids almost every night is exhausting for not only me but for my husband as well. I would now like to take the opportunity to thank my wonderful husband for putting up with this zany schedule of mine and being willing to skip fishing for 3 weeks during the best fishing of the year in order to put kids to bed and make dinners, etc. It is exhausting for him as well as me and I appreciate his efforts for sure! :)

However, I always find myself in unique situations that some other stay-at-home mothers don't. I am here in the mornings to take my kids to school. I do laundry, I clean, I waste time on the computer but I am not able to tuck my kids into bed some nights, I don't have the opportunity to take my son to movie night at his school because I have a show. I can't always help my oldest son with homework because I'm teaching lessons, and on and on. So, I find myself jealous of mothers who can and do do it all. Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating my kids out of that entire experience because of the necessity to work outside of the home. On the other hand, working is sometimes my salvation. Sometimes after a long day dealing with sick kids or just nudgy children, I can go teach some lessons or play for a musical and my mind can escape from the mundane for 2 hours at a stretch. It is a unique life, a weird life at times, a busy life, a crazy life, but to quote from Jon and Kate Plus 8 ( obviously a wonderful show to model myself after, lol) 'it's a crazy life, but it's our life'.

So, during this 3rd week of crazy scheduling and as the exhaustion settles in on my body and mind and spirit, I remind myself that I'm not really a working mother. I can usually tuck kids into bed, I can wake them up and make them breakfast, I can go to their school activities, and I can also work, which I think usually makes me a better person and therefore a better mother.

But, I'm ready for some 'normalcy' again...if that even exists. I'm ready for a nice quiet evening at home, tucking my kids into bed and watching some primetime television on the couch with my husband. I miss the simplicity of that for sure.