Let me start by saying that I'm at a point where I no longer want to call myself a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM). Why? Is it because it is a shameful life?
Quite the opposite. Someone "stays at home" when they're not feeling well and can't make it to the fun dinner with friends, or when a student can't attend classes, or when someone is just lazy and doesn't want to get a job they're perfectly capable of having.
The SAHMs I know are the opposite of all these things. It would be more accurate to call them "Moms-Of-All-Trades" (MOATs).
Almost all of the ones I know have an actual PAID part-time job or even busier ministry/volunteering engagement/social engagement.
Besides the daily cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and keeping children fed and clothed, they manage finances, medical appointments, homeschooling, contractors, repair oversight, ordering clothes/machines/toys/etc..., playdates, emotional crises, etc...
They aren't women who just fell into a lazy lifestyle when everyone else was meeting for drinks and facing life head-on. They are grabbing the bull by the horns, all while rocking a baby to sleep.
There are days when such a life becomes overwhelming. When moms wish they had a tedious 9-5 job they could sit at instead of being nagged 15x per minute. When they'd rather come home to a ready dinner cooked by magical elves, fresh laundry, clean bathrooms, happy children who have nothing left of the day to do but tell them how much fun they had with someone else who managed all of this.
Then there are days when they are reminded why they chose such a life. Why they chose to set aside a life in the spotlight of some fancy job in order to, honestly, do nothing short of dying daily and heroically in the dark.
Today was one such day. I got to pause long enough to catch my breath and truly see what this crushed wheat is germinating into. After 3 "disastrous" days, I could finally sit for a second and observe life. It was nothing in particular. In fact, it was a series of failures. We went to a water spray park that wasn't even turned on yet. Melkite Toddler fell and scraped his knees. I had received a restaurant coupon in the morning and so decided to take him out for lunch. Turns out the undated coupon is expired, probably by a few years (long story). We rarely go out to restaurants, because the quality/price is honestly not worth it anymore, so we went out specifically because of that coupon. However, the food was delicious, unbelievably reasonable in price, and they just generously applied the coupon (free kid meal) after informing me it was expired. At the end, Melkite Toddler even got a firetruck gift!
It was one of those days where you are reminded that, sure, you wanted to wear the fancy dresses to work, have a quiet lunch for once in your life, have an accurate title to what it is you actually do for a job, and pick up happy children at the end of the day that are fed and changed by someone else. Instead, you get stained shirts, spilled glasses, a shockingly diminutive and inaccurate title for what you do, and full diapers at the worst moments.
However, you are also reminded that, in your particular life, divine grace is not meant to show up in a clean professional dress, makeup and a nice lunch with co-workers. Very often, it shows up with scraped knees, expired coupons, and full hearts.
