“After a long day, a mother’s body is exhausted, but it is her mind that suffers the most.
It’s the mental load of it all. remembering to do it all. Worrying about it all.
It’s the toilet paper that magically appears back on the roll.
The hand wash that gets refilled.
It’s remembering that you’re out of milk and someone’s favorite cereal.
It’s making dinner and trying to remember what everyone likes.
It’s throwing out the left overs and the vegetables that didn’t get used.
It’s remembering that money for school photos need to be returned. A dentist appointment needs to be made. A specialist appointment needs a referral.
Shoes need replacing and new clothes need to be bought.
It’s remembering a gift for so and so’s birthday.
And paying that bill before the due date.
It’s silently cleaning up after everyone’s gone to bed and turning off the lights ready for bed but staring at a phone, desperate for some time to feel like a person.
It’s that one moment to exist alone without screaming or demands or anything.
It’s never finishing your favorite TV show because it’s 12am and the lunches are made, and the laundry is getting folded and everything is still such a mess that you can never catch up on and your eyelids are just too heavy.
It’s worrying at 3 a.m., about their growing brains, their safety and if it’s all being done right. Did I spend enough time?
It’s a tight ship that is run so effortlessly. That can feel SO unappreciated sometimes and that exhausts the absolute crap out of us.
But it’s all of us. We are all exhausted. That’s why when we get together we can laugh about it. We can drink more coffee than we should or have an extra glass of wine. Because we need it. We so need it. It’s smiling at another mum frantically looking for a costume at Kmart for book week at 11pm, because you know. You get it.
We all try to fit our life in between the hours that our children are asleep, and we do it because we love them.
And even though you might feel alone in that moment, of trying to glue a science project together or folding some ninja turtle undies, even though you might feel alone, and you might feel exhausted. Know that I see you. We see you. Your children see you. And we all know that you are the glue that holds it all together, even if some days it drives you nuts to be it.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Laura Mazza of Mum on the Run, where it originally appeared. Submit your story here, and subscribe to our best love stories here.
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