Being a Mother

Today I spent some time with a good friend, who also happens to be a new mom.  Her first daughter is three months old, and perfect in every way.  My girlfriend has taken to motherhood so naturally and beautifully, it's hard to picture her before there was a chunky baby on her hip.  However, during our visit she made several comments about how neurotic she was, or how messy her house was. And she shook off my compliments like they weren't true.

I thought about this on my drive home.  It is actually a topic I have been thinking about for several days.  Why do we, as mothers, feel like we don't deserve a compliment, or like we aren't doing a phenomenal job, simply because we haven't gotten everything on our "to-do" list done.  Alright, we haven't gotten anything on the list done.  We give ourselves a hard time, feel guilty constantly, and are always asking ourselves and each other "Am I doing a good job?"  Well guess what, the answer is yes.  Yes, yes, yes.

Lately I have been eaiser on myself in the mom department.  Mybe it's because this blog has made me look at things differently, because I will be the first to tell you, I'm not doing anything differently.  I haven't got a magic answers book, or recently gotten a degree in motherhood.  In fact, I am just as clueless as ever.  The difference is that I have decided to admit to myself that I am doing a good job.  Yes, my children drive me crazy, my house is a mess, and the amount of times I shower in a week is fairly questionalble, but I am a good mom.  And so are you.

So here is what I propose; I want all my girlfriends and fellow mothers to look in the mirror, and let yourself off the hook.  I have something to tell you.  You are doing a fantastic job.  Each and every one of you.  I am in awe of all of you, even the moms that I haven't met.  Being a mother is hard, sometimes I can't believe how hard.  How many jobs that are this hard come without a training manual?  Give yourselves some credit.  When I looked at my girlfriend today, no matter what she saw, all I saw was an unbelievably beautiful woman.  A mother.