This past weekend was Mother’s Day and I realized I have a lot of moms in my life that I rely on for advice and guidance, my mother, my mother in law, two sister in laws and my sister have all helped me navigate through my first year as a mom. There are numerous others who have given advice, some I wanted and some I didn’t, but all the moms in my life have offered up insight at one time or another.
I am very close with my mom and I was talking to my husband Sunday night trying to explain all the little things my mom did and moms I know do that no one notices or appreciates until we have to do them ourselves. I love being a mother to my son and there are times that being an adult has its perks and there are other days that adulting is stressful, messy and complicated. At 34 years old there are still times I wish I could go back to being a carefree kid. There are also instances when I watch my son enjoying the simplest things so completely that at that exact moment I dislike everything about being an adult, I want to view the simple things like he does, with wonder and excitement.
I moved out of my parent’s house right after I graduated high school. I grew up in a small town and couldn’t wait to move to a big city and start a new grown up fast paced life. The first time I had to do my own grocery shopping on a budget I was shocked. I can remember my mom getting upset when we doubled the amount of laundry detergent needed for a load of clothes or when she had dinner planned and we had eaten the ingredients she needed and she had to stop and buy more. I remember I used to think my mom was overreacting. I always thought, what’s the big deal just stop at the store and buy more. As it turns out groceries and household items can be expensive and stopping to shop can be time consuming, now as an adult I understand her frustrations.
With May Long weekend coming up and many families getting ready to go camping I miss being a kid. Getting ready to head out for the first camping trip of the year can be a lengthy process. You have to clean and restock the holiday trailer, dewinterize the trailer, then when you get to the campsite there is the set up and then the take down of camp. When I was a kid all I had to do was take my bike to my dad to load in the truck just before we left. When we got to the campsite my dad would unload our bikes and we would take off for a ride, when we got back to camp everything was done and we could enjoy family time. I never thought about all the work that was put into our family trips.
Now that I have a family of my own I realize there aren’t always enough hours in the day to get everything done. Since having my son, my husband and I’s lives have become very hectic. I don’t know how my mom did it when my siblings and I were little; my dad worked very long hours, sometimes he worked away for extended periods of time. My mom worked full time, kept us three kids fed and clothed all the while ensuring we made it to our after school activities and my mom would always be sitting front row with a smile and her full attention at all our events.
We always had chores and were expected to help around the farm but I never fully grasped everything that needed to be done to keep a household and a farm running. I never fully appreciated the work it took to keep up on the laundry, the cleaning, caring for the animals, the school projects and bakes sales but somehow my mom and moms everywhere do it everyday. So I guess in honor of Mother’s Day and to all the mom’s out there, this mom now understands and fully appreciates all you do for your families.
Christina Komives is sales manager for The Wetaskiwin Pipestone Flyer and writes a regular column for the paper.