I see you, late-night mamas. Those of you trying to snatch some me-time into the wee hours…
… Hiding under the covers with your phone so as not to wake your baby. Or your partner.
… Sat at your desks with a cup of coffee, trying to make that deadline.
… Asleep on the sofa five minutes into your favourite show.
I see you passed out in a tangle of arms and legs in your child’s bed, fully clothed until you wake up in the middle of the night with a crick in your neck and stumble to your own room, drunk with sleep, perhaps only to be woken a few hours later by a cry, or a pitter-patter of feet and sweaty hands on your neck. Or worse still – your child standing in the middle of the room informing you that they’ve just vomited all over their bed… And then they vomit all over yours.
I see you, Mamas.
This one is for all of you who were some of these things today and for those of you who were so much more:
snot-cleaner; bum-wiper; shoe-tier; taxi-driver; hand-holder; dog-walker-groomer-feeder-and-the-only-one-who-picks-up-their-poo-er; provider-of-3-healthy-meals-plus-nutritious-snacks-for-bottomless-pit-stomachs; food-for-the-rest-of-the-week-planner; mediator; breaker-upper-of-fist-fighters; kisser-of-poorly-fingers-and-toes; first-aider-to-bumps-and-cuts-and-bruises; stain-remover; project-manager; event-organiser; social-media-er; list-writer; shopper; laundry-doer-collecter-sorter-put-awayer; cleaner; manager; employee; entrepreneur; phone-caller; duster; sweeper; mopper; plant-water-er; scrap-booker; memory-maker; picnic-planner; birthday-rememberer; the-upkeeper-of-friendships; tooth-fairy-tiny-little-letter-writer; recycler; mood-uplifter; positive-thinker; snatcher-of-minutes-throughout-the-day-to-reply-to-emails; the-keeper-of-what’s-happening-in-every-one-else’s-lives-and-the-rest-of-your-town-your-country-your-other-country-your-friend-and-family-dotted-all-over-the-world’s-countries; news-reader; smiler-to-strangers; greeter-of-neighbours; picker-up-of-parcels; appointment-maker; appointment-keeper; getting-to-meetings-on-timer; stay-at-home-mum; working-mum; working-from-home-mum; single mum; multiparous mum; carer-of-elderly-parents-or-less-abled-family-members; friend; counsellor; washer-upper-and-dryer; bed-maker-changer; toothbrusher; bedtime-storyteller; snuggler; scare-away-the-monster-in-the-darker; inspirer; motivator; maker-of-lunches-for-tomorrow-so-you-can-please-for-the-love-of-god-get-out-of-the-door-on-time-in-the-morning; soup-stock-strainer; late-night-worker; cleanser-and-moisturiser-of-your-face-prayer-that-those-circles-won’t-get-any-darker-or-bigger; critic; hoper; thinker; dreamer… And so much more. So, so much more.
I did just some of these things today. It was a good day. The kind that involved no screaming and ended with giggles and cuddles in bed.
Some days I do more.
And some, I do so much less than I wanted to. But that’s okay.
I wish you all a good night’s sleep and for tomorrow, I wish you those little things that make each day different from the one that went before… those little things that can make you laugh… that will make you cry. Those little things that only you notice.
Because you are beautiful. You are amazing. And you are strong.
… Even when you feel like you haven’t got the strength to take one more step, to get up in the middle of the night one more time… to read one more story, or to sing that goddamn sang one more time…
… When you smile even though you are screaming inside. And even when you scream out loud.
Please remember that you are everyone’s heart – everyone’s centre.
Just make sure that you are also your own x