I Used To Be So Much Smarter
(fabulous photo taken by Andrea, the world best photographer)
My niece has a 13 month old baby and she reminds me of just how “smart” I was before I had a baby, and how “not smart” I was afterward.
I remember saying, before my kids were born, that they’d just have to learn to sleep through noise because I wasn’t going to tip toe around “my” house.
Of course it only took two sleep deprived days before that little plan flew out the window. I nearly strangled three separate delivery men that first month. I also revised my understanding of the phrase “sleep like a baby.” Clearly it meant waking up every two hours and screaming.
I remember saying, before my kids were born, that I was going to keep going out and having adventures. It took one viewing of Finding Nemo to stop me from backing out of a parking space without my seatbelt already on, never mind riding on the back of a motorcycle.
I remember saying, before my kids were born, that I would still eat out and my kids wouldn’t be screaming or going crazy. Let’s just say that I’ve learned lots of ways to cook chicken at home.
I remember saying, before my kids were born, that I would not take time for myself, after all, you had to be balanced about these things. These days I look up and realize I forgot my earrings, am wearing a shirt that doubled as a face wiping rag earlier and haven’t shopped for new shoes since they came out with pointy toes. Was that the late 1990s? Are they back in?
I remember saying, before my kids were born, that I was busy. Ha! Back then I had time to complain!
I remember saying, before my kids were born, that I loved my dogs, loved my job, loved my car. Until you can hold out your hand to catch partially chewed food, picked out all the peas of a veggie medley, crawled under a bed to recover a lost stuffed animal despite the fact you might get stuck under there and end up on the 10:00 news, and carried someone in 100 degree heat from an event you never would have come to because you knew this would happen but they begged and begged… well, until then, you don’t know true love.
Yes, I was brilliant back before they were born. Now I’m just a silly ol’ mommy, figuring things out as we go along.
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