Mommy-fied

As a older teen/younger adult I worked as a cashier in Wal-Mart. Many people might look down on that job. However I have found it taught MANY life lessons. I would laugh my head off (privately where they couldn't see) at these mothers that came though my line. They would have a huge cart full of food, but the hot dogs would be on top of the bleach, the bread under the 10 lbs of potatoes and it looked like a tornado had happened to throw most of it in the cart rather than any thoughtful process of shopping. In the front of a cart would be a child between 1-3 and there would be snot crusted from his nose to his chin and a lot of times from ear to ear where it had wiped the green stuff with it's own tiny, messy hands. All around this little tyrant would be opened packages of cookies, crackers and popcorn chicken from the deli. Often you could hear shrieks of an unearthly, un-human sort coming from across the store. Cashiers would look at each other and roll our eyes. NEVER would my kid...

The Mother would have mascara smeared like raccoon eyes, her eyes would be blood shot and there would be even MORE snot spots on her wrinkled clothing. Her hair would be in a pony tail that was coming out in fuzzy pieces all over her head.

I would watch these mothers come through and the more kids they had the worse they looked. I'd laugh up my sleeve and say NEVER in my life would my child run my life like that.

Three years ago I started to feel sick. Every day I was so tired I could hardly think and I was throwing up at the weirdest times. Yep, I was gonna have a baby. Soon my body started to expand and my cute clothes were all tossed into banana boxes that I will probably never seen again. In 9 months I had a beautiful little boy. Every two hours, sometimes more, I was at his beck and call. My nice top (that I had always been a bit proud of) expanded 3 sizes and fell about 8 inches. Giving me a buddha belly wasn't enough? Thank you, Donnie.

The first night I slept 4 hours in a row I woke up feeling like I could take on the world all by myself.

Kids grow up so fast and Donnie was an angel. Never a problem, easy going and I was able to do most of the things I had before I had a kid. Then he hit about 18 months. I was in Wal-Mart. He got hungry, was tired and honestly is a bit spoiled. I found myself piling cookies, small juice bottles, and crackers into the cart for his majesty to munch on. I didn't really even think about it. We got to the check out lane and my bread was under the potatoes. That's odd...and then I heard a sound from my past...that eerie howl. It echoed around my head like a bad dream. I looked around for that horrible child making that AWFUL noise! IT WAS MINE!! There is my small dictator screaming his head off because I had taken his cookies to pay for them. It all came back in a rush and in a panic I checked my eyes. No smears. I glanced at my clothes...they were neat and pressed, my hair was done. Grant it there was ONE snot spot on my shirt but I HAD tried to get it off. I sheepishly finished up with the 19 something year old cashier. I saw her cast a long glance at my kid and suddenly I wanted to laugh at her. Never say NEVER...sucker. ;)

No matter how many snotty noses you have to wipe, how many times you are up all night with a sick/nursing baby, or the million of other things that mothers do it is all worth it when you see their little angelic faces looking at you with all the love in the world. I love being a Mommy. I will work hard to NOT be a frumpy, scary mess. My mom never was, but I have proved to myself that no one is perfect, not even your little angel. You better laugh at the embarrassing moments and enjoy the fun ones.