My work schedule allows me to have every other Friday off. I call those Fridays my Stay-at-Home-Mom Fridays, SAHM Fridays. In theory, I would hang out with my boy and play and do fun things. But in reality, it has recently been what I think most SAHM's every-days are about: running errands, doing laundry, straightening the house and, in between, tending to The Boy, who is usually a sweet joy, but sometimes is a challenge.
OK, I admit it. Sometimes I take The Boy to School on SAHM Fridays.
Bad, evil, selfish Working Mom.
But it's not like that at all!
It's just easier and faster to run all those errands and do all those chores if I'm not running to sooth him or make sure he's not hitting his head on the coffee table. Then when it's all done, I pick him up and the day can be all about him.
But the thing is, when I take him to School, I miss him. I want to hang out with him. My mind is always there, with him. The truth is that I miss him all the time that I am away from him, every day at work. But when I'm at work, the distraction of the activity of a busy office dulls the ache of missing him. When I'm doing the grocery shopping and he's down the street at School, all I can think about is him being just down the street at School. And I wonder about what he might be doing . . . and how I'd rather he be with me . . . and how he's probably having a lot of fun without me playing with his little friends . . . and how the idea of him having fun makes me feel happy . . . and, weirdly, quite lonely. (I have a suspicion that this is a hint of my life to come.)
Still, I have visions of SAHM Fridays of the future that involve splash parks, zoos, playgrounds, museums, play dates, music classes, ball pits, trampolines and other fun things for kids. I look forward to SAHM Fridays that are not days in which I get a head start on the laundry or caught up on the family filing. I look forward to fun SAHM Fridays full of adventures and devoted to the enrichment of my little guy's beautiful mind. Right now, at age seven months, those sorts of adventures are pretty limited in scope, but nevertheless fulfilling. (Recently, he touched grass for the first time, which was more fun than you might think. Think of what he'll make of a pick-your-own berry farm or a petting zoo!)
We're going to have a great time on our Fridays!
But right now, today, on this SAHM Friday, I've got a load of dirty diapers to get into the washer and some dishes to do. Ta ta!
