My life

Recently I ordered a desk calendar geared toward moms, which in and of itself gave me pause. I stared at it for a very long time before committing. It is designed as a desk pad with a week's worth of calendar space on one side and a menu planning space on the back when you flip it over. Because I am horrible at menu planning and always forget to tell Jared basic stuff like, "Please don't leave the living room strewn with dominoes and dribbles of formula because my visiting teachers are coming tonight," I thought it could help me/us keep things running more smoothly on the home front.

When the calendar arrived, I noticed that there was a sample page already filled out on the cover. Based on their planned activities, this mythical family has NOTHING in common with us.

The dad appears to work a 30 or maybe 35 hour week; he's home in time for dinner at 6:00 and haircuts at 5:30, and has lunch appointments strewn throughout the week. He golfs on Saturdays and watches football with his buddies on Sunday afternoons. The mom does volunteer work, including coordinating school bake sales, and also shuttles the kids to their activities. She has a number of weekday social engagements and gets together with girlfriends on Saturdays while the hubby is out golfing.

The kids are musical and athletic. They're involved in school choir, horseback riding, and soccer. The youngest is in Brownies. I didn't dare flip the calendar over to see what these people eat. I'm sure the mom prepares healthy, aesthetically pleasing meals and packs nutritious lunches.

Don't get me wrong; it sounds like a pretty great life, but I found it a little demoralizing to compare my calendar to theirs. My weekdays consist of: get up, get ready, go to work, return from work, eat dinner, bathe baby, put baby to bed, do housework, read, go to bed. Weekends offer a bit more variety; I substitute ' go to work' for 'deep clean', 'run errands', and 'go to church'.

Still, I think I have a good life. It may not be all country club dinners and school bake sales, but I find it fulfilling. It's really quite stimulating being simultaneously a student wife, working professional, and mother to the little Piggy. Over-stimulating, really; here's hoping things slow down sometime soon.