Alright, I admit it. I had a breakdown yesterday. Albeit, a relatively brief meltdown, it was not one of my proudest moments.
I had no idea I was stressed out. I had just read a great blog post the night before titled, The Power of Positivity by Erin Franco. She discusses being thankful for the small blessings that come with raising young children/taking care of a family and having joy in the seemingly mundane chores and tasks that mothers do daily. It felt good to relate to another young woman who seemed to be in a similar family situation and have similar values. I felt refreshed in my mission to be a good wife and mother.
So Sunday morning rolls around, and I get myself and the girls ready to attend mass. By the time I get both of them in their car seats and back out of the driveway, I realize that I’m going to be late. I get to church and have to park a good distance away and lug a car seat, diaper bag, purse, and toddler across the parking lot by myself, since Adam is not back from his Nascar gig in Wisconsin yet. (ETA was 5 a.m., but they did not arrive until late-morning. Awesome, right?) I will insert a positive comment right now, though: My two-year-old behaved amazingly well during an extended service. The downside of this longer service was that she fell asleep in the car for a few minutes on the way home which ended up destroying her chance for her usual nap. In the midst of giving up hope that she would get any sleep, Adam arrives home. Being the helpful husband that he is, he had picked up another copy of the Sunday newspaper for me like I asked, so I could get some extra coupons. As I am flipping through the paper and the ads, I realize that this newspaper has no coupons. Somebody snatched them out of the paper! Cue meltdown!
I totally freaked out. This, by itself, is only a minor annoyance, but being that I am trying to juggle a million balls in the air (okay, what feels like a million), not unlike most mommies in America, I was not happy about this snag in my plans for the day and the waste of $1.75. I was trying to make a grocery list and prepare the house for the arrival of Adam’s parents and brother who are staying the week with us, while getting ready to attend a baby shower for my cousin and his wife. I am a person who maximizes every minute of the day since so many things need to be done. There is a reason that women are good at multi-tasking, but my mind couldn’t take all of the calculations, planning, and organizing any more! The wheels are constantly turning in my head. I am always trying to stay one step ahead so that I won’t make things harder on myself. I hate proctrastinating!
If you can’t tell already by reading this, my personality type is considered to be “The Reformer/Perfectionist”, according to the Enneagram. A type One personality, which I am, is one that values fairness, honesty, integrity, organization, personal responsibility, etc. The negative aspects of my personality include being too critical, impatient, and quick to anger. So for a person who has a strong sense of right and wrong, an injustice such as “coupon swiping,” tipped me over the edge of the scale that I try to keep balanced in my mind. Seriously, though, I’m all about the whole coupon craze, but have some respect for other women who are trying to better their family’s financial situation, as well!
After a few minutes of being ridiculously upset, I finished my list, organized my coupons and we all got in the car to head to an amazing baby shower for two of my favorite people in the world! I am so excited that my two girls will have another little girl relative to play with! Adam’s family arrived safely and we had a nice evening. I still found time to clip coupons while visiting with my mother-in-law after the kids went to sleep for the night.
I am very thankful to God for my family! I hope that I can be more like my mom, who never made it seem like doing laundry or making dinner was a chore that she didn’t want to do for us! Every moment that I have with my husband and daughters is truly a blessing and it is my privilege to be able to care for them!
A Dreamer's Wife 