God Bless Single Moms and those with traveling husbands

Last week my husband volunteered for an Honor Flight to Washington, DC. This meant he woke at 4am to leave and didn’t return until 10:30 at night. I know that on a typical day, I do more “family duties,” but having my husband go away for a full day – which rarely happens – reminded me that I am extremely lucky to have the husband I do.

While we have our share of problems and disagreements, and I do feel that I am made more responsible to keep the family rolling, I realized just how much he contributes.

Little things like how splitting kid duty in the morning are the things that keep us more or less on time. I got Sofia to daycare a full hour late that day, a snowball effect of having to get myself ready, then having to get her breakfast since she was too late for breakfast at daycare, cleaning up the kitchen and swigging a cup of coffee when I could.

Anyway, it continues to amaze me the number of moving parts that moms have to juggle. And I really don’t mean to discount dads, because in many cases, like mine, they contribute a lot. But I think we women are just wired differently. Men just don’t think about all the little requirements, all the little steps that go into making something whole. My husband flat out told me that if I wasn’t around, all those forms my daughter brings home from school just wouldn’t get filled out. He wouldn’t have the patience for it. I think most moms can relate to being the CEO of the family – we know:

• when the doctor and dentist appointments are, the fieldtrips, the “sharing days” at school,
• if daycare’s been paid,
• who needs more clean clothes,
• who’s out of pants that fit due to a growth spurt (and exactly what size they wear),
• cycling in the seasonal (or outgrown) closet change,
• what food is in the cupboard and fridge, and where’s the cheapest place to get the staples without trading off on nutritional quality,
• how much calcium the baby’s been getting since she doesn’t like milk,
• when the vacuum filters need to be cleaned out,
• when the bills are due,
• how much money’s in the bank and owed on credit cards,
• where the [fill in any blank] forms are…etc.

I’m sure there are many dads who are up on these things – but I’m sure they don’t run through the list in their head like a litany and worry about the things not done. I sure wish I could turn that off from time to time. 

And for us WAHMs, we’re often CEO of the family and of a business if we have our own business. God bless single moms (and dads!) and those whose spouses are often away. My hat off to them because it takes particular strength to parent on your own. But hats off to ALL parents, who figure out their own ways to get through each day and week while growing strong kids.