New Normal

Recently someone said I have my act together. Phew, only took two years to get the hang of this new normal – our family of five.

The new normal, however, is nothing like the old normal. The new normal means I forget that there’s a half day of school…I won’t even mention the time I forgot Gabby at preschool all together. The new normal has an overload of media in a way I never previously would have accepted. I’d like to blame it on the need for a “babysitter” but sometimes I even sit with them watching tv/iPad because I’m just too tired. The new normal is a place where I accept that certain things will never be as I intend them. In the famous words…it is, what it is.

Does this mean I really have my act together??

I’m able to get us all out of the house in the morning. Albeit late, but dressed, fed and brushed. I’ll call that success. I’m able to get all three children to sleep at night. Albeit there may be an abundance of tears and trips out of their rooms to explain the countless “nightmares” they have. Yet when I go to sleep, each three are sound asleep in their respective beds. I’m able to cook a meal. Albeit that nobody actually consumes it. I clearly have mastered this new normal.

Most mothers I pass are overwhelmed with life. It doesn’t matter if you have one child or nineteen kids – kids drain your mental capacity. Throw in things for school, after school activities, birthday parties…and dare I say, my own personal life, and there’s a lot dancing around in your head. I can’t even imagine how those of whom that work pull it off! I’ve also learned that it’s all about perspective. I have friends that never really had it together as a single person, they are able to embrace the chaos easier. I remember a time where I used to remember everything. I remember a time when someone asked me to do something and I could guarantee it would get done. But this is my life, for better or worse.

So let me just apologize right now. I’m sorry if I forgot something important. I’m sorry if I neglected something I shouldn’t have. Sometimes it may look like I have my act together (which I find completely shocking). The truth of the matter is that I may never have my act together again. But…it is, what it is.