The thought occurred to me to text her back as soon as I heard the phone ding the second time. My late response had nothing to do with my love for her, or desire to have a conversation. It was simply the fact that my four year old wanted to help me clean out the mini van. I caught her trying to eat old gum she found on the car seat in the back. I really wanted to respond, but then I forgot.
Dear Mom that just texted me, I really wanted to respond to you but….
- My two year old just smeared peanut butter all over the counter tops. Also, now we are out of peanut butter so I need to go to the store. I’ll text soon.
- I had to feed the baby and I fell asleep.
- I had to wipe a kids butt. I meant to text you back immediately but I had to wash my hands.
- Someone was begging for Goldfish, but we were out. This resulted in a thirty minute tantrum and time out. Then I laid on my bed and prayed to God to close up my uterus forever, and put a for sale sign in it’s yard.
- I started to clean the toilets and my toddler threw my toothbrush in the toilet. I ran with it and ended up using it to clean all the urine spots from my son learning to pee standing up. Then I had to run to Target to get a new toothbrush.
- I meant to text you back but as soon as I picked up my phone to do so, it died. Mostly because my daughter was using it to watch Netflix and YouTube videos so I could cook dinner in peace.
- I got in the first sentence then had to click out because a fight broke out over the only spatula that we have. The kids were using it to spank each other.
Dear Mom friends that texted me lately, I love you all. In a perfect world I could respond to you all at the same time and get all of my laundry done in one swipe. The fact is that I really wanted to go to that playdate you invited me to , but that would mean that I would have to get up earlier tomorrow to wash my hair. I haven’t washed my hair in three days because when I am in the shower my children do horrible things. My toddler has been waking me up all hours of the night to sing Twinkle Twinkle against my will, and I am tired.
I really want to fellowship with you. I really do. That just takes so much work on my part. The lunch packing, the toddler screaming to wear flip flops in 40 degree weather. I really LOVE your company, and want to be social. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the amount of laundry to be done and the dishes to wash that I can be antisocial. Not in a way that I dislike you , but in a way that I am TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING DONE BEFORE I LOSE MY MIND.
For the love of all things Holy, I WANT to converse with you. I want to keep up with what is going on in your life. I love when you text me to catch up. Sometimes it just takes me longer to get back to you. This has nothing to do with my love for you. Believe me, at times I would rather lock myself in my hall closet and text you than deal with a fight over the last chicken nugget for lunch.
Mom friend, just know of my love. Know that I am thinking of you as I hang up clothes and wash dishes. I am praying for your day to be better than mine. I am loving you SO much from afar it almost hurts my heart to be away from you. I want you to be here with me, for me to come along side you and hug you when the days are long and hard. But I can’t do that. I can text you when I have a chance, but please know that you are not alone in this motherhood thing. We are all in the same boat. All blessed, and utterly exhausted.
No pun intended, that just came out.
Just know that if I don’t respond immediately to your text, it doesn’t mean that I am ignoring you. It simply means that I am training tiny humans to be nice people. Or at least clean people. Which is why I scrubbed them down before bed and couldn’t text you fast enough before they got the hardwoods soaked. Then I had to mop, so I’ll respond tomorrow.
Also, I love you. Keep texting. I’m reading, and smiling. It’s the response that I need to get the hang of.
