Filling my cup

Being a stay at home is a job  that is just as demanding and stressful as having to clock in and work an “actual job;” don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. It’s often times a thankless job. No one clocks in and takes over for me at the end of a shift. I don’t get paid for working the holidays, and when I work a night shift there is recovery day or rest period to make up the missed night’s sleep.

If it’s such a hard and exhausting job, why do it?

Because I love it. I love my profession. That’s what it is. Don’t let anyone run you down for thinking so. Travis has to go to for years of medical school and three years of residency where he also worked long hours, received little praise for what he was doing. Didn’t get any extra pay for Holidays ( which he always worked). He was constantly on call. They ran him ragged.

If it’s such a hard and exhausting job, why do it?

Because he loves it. He has tremendous job satisfaction, and knows he’s doing exactly what he was meant to do. So do I. And in both our cases, our professions require these long and rigorous hours of work/training because there are lives on the line.

Did you know it takes 10,000 practice hours to become a Master at something? Well take comfort knowing that when you go see your Doctor, they’re masters at what they do. And same goes for Moms.... now I’m not claiming to be a master, but I’m definitely putting in the hours! Because like I said, there are lives on the line. I’ve been entrusted with four incredibly wonderful heavenly angels who depend on me to fill their cups so full that they are overflowing and able to help fill other’s cups!  As you can imagine, this becomes a draining profession. Even though I can stay in my Pj’s to do my work. Or I can sort of doze while the baby naps and my toddler threads Cheerios into my hair, that’s doesn’t replace vacation time.

I am so blessed to be married to my best friend. I am so glad that we are at a point in life where he now has time for hobbies. Because there was a time where not only did we not have time, but he had zero passion and never thought he’d be into anything again. I’m so glad that he has friends to take biking trips with and go play ball with. He needs that. He deserves time to himself.

And I feel even more blessed to be have a best friend who feels all those same things for me. He can see (or listen when I’m frantically screaming it!) that my cup can become empty. And man, my cup hath run dry! So he really pampered me for the weekend. I told him I simply needed 24 hrs in a hotel in Town so I could sleep through the night and have zero schedules to coordinate. He upped the ante and flew me to Minneapolis where I shuttled to a hotel and had a weekend to myself. He even asked if I wanted to take friends or do different activities that I can’t normally do with all the kids... but honestly what in wanted was ZERO plans. And that’s what I got! 70% of my weekend was spent in bed either sleeping or watching Hallmark channel Christmas movies (don’t judge; I’m addicts to them now!). Another 20% was spent exercising, whether it was in their gym or just out walking in the beautiful fall weather! And then 10% was spent visiting the mall of America, where I window shopped and enjoyed looking at anything I wanted while no one rushed me! Then there were the delicious breakfasts and actual time to get ready for the day. I can almost see how all the teens are constantly taking selfies; if you are feeling pretty, sometimes you just want to capture that! Ha ha.

My cup runneth over and I am overflowing with gratitude that my life circumstances allow me to have a weekend like this every one in awhile. And I intend to not let another 11 yrs go by before I have a weekend alone again!

And then meanwhile Travis was home killing it as father of the year. He surprised them with a two hour drive that ended in Rochester at the Chuckie Cheese! They played games, ate pizza , and drove home exhausted!