A friend of mine joked, “You guys really don’t sell it,” when
a couple other moms and I talked about parenthood. It got me thinking. We do
(Especially us mom bloggers) talk about the shit part a lot. Now I’m going to
sell it. At least I’m going to give it shot. Here it goes.
Take off the dirt.
Take out boogers.
The tantrums.
The fight for independence (I am here! Yes I heard you the first time.)
The door slams.
The nagging.
The neediness.
The hair pulls.
The constant worry.
The scrapes.
The puke
The poop.
The pee.
The spit.
The eye boogers and neck crust.
The sleeplessness.
The crumb covered floors.
The ruined upholstery. The nicked furniture.
The marked walls. (Again, I am here.)
The amazing ability to impersonate a drunk, homeless person
And you are left with pure light
Love
Genius
Curiosity, strength
They are the heart outside your body. Raw and vulnerable.
Scary and beautiful.
It is your do-over.
They are perfect.
They are you.
That time they wouldn’t eat their pizza because it wasn’t completely
covered in pepperoni and they cried all through dinner balling up the pizza
into an unrecognizable ball of mush? They just want to be seen.
They are all that is good. All that is possible.
Another human being to learn the reason for our lives—to connect,
to love and be loved, to learn
different is what makes this world perfect, to find they are amazing
individually, but we only work together.
They will fit you better then your favorite sweater to quote
Lana Del Rey.
And the love…. The love and joy is better then a first kiss
or peanut butter and chocolate.
This culmination of cells and blood is yours. And you know
they are yours because they are your
reflection. Even the parts you don’t want to see. They teach you everyday if
you listen and watch. They challenge you. They push every button you have. Do
not struggle. Surrender and they will be your life preserver. They will make
you better then you ever could be without them.
Yes it’s your job to raise them to be exceptional human
beings, but they teach you the meaning of life. And also how to burp and fart
at the same time. And how to draw a unicorn and how to dress however you damn
well please.
Here’s the kicker.
You can’t have the:
Middle of the night snuggles
The messy kisses
The moment they read a book themselves
The heart stopping beautiful way they sleep
The odd breakfasts in bed
The dance parties
The belly busting laughs
The homemade cards
The times they look at you with eyes from the future that
say You are doing a good job with me,
please don’t cry.
The absolute unconditional love
And more
And more
And on
And on
You can’t have any of that without… The shit we bloggers
blog about.
