Holding it all together

I read this over the weekend, and thought it was one of the best things I'd ever seen. I just had to share it here:

"The way I see it, if you have four kids, you don't really have to do anything else, ever. Three kids is a handful, but one that many people manage to hold. If you're a mother of four, you definitely don't have to have a career or volunteer for the school fund-raiser or even bring an appetizer to the dinner party. In fact, people give you a lot of credit for wearing both earrings and knowing how to spell chaos and antidepressant. Four kids gives you a pass for every forgotten birthday, overlooked appointment, and missing form. Plus, you can be late for everything the rest of your life and never return phone calls. Who's gonna blame you? It's like having nonthreatening cancer, forever."

Kelly Corrigan, The Middle Place

I'd love to print this out and hand it to a few people. First on the list, my mother, who never seems to understand why I'm not on top of every single minute detail of life, and why I take forever to return her phone calls. Sure, I'm scatterbrained, but for the love of God, there's a LOT going on around here! I do have a career (although part-time), I do volunteer for some school things, and I bring more than just appetizers to all kind of functions. I even wear both earrings, and I'm a great speller! All of this on top of having four kids. I'm holding it all together, even if sometimes that means using duct tape & staples.

I also forget a lot of stuff, and misplace permission slips, and turn in forms late. Often, I'm at the grocery store the night before the school parties, buying a bag of Cheetos. But I'm managing it, the best that I can. I just wish everyone felt the way that author does (who by the way, is a mother of two, who beat breast cancer.)

But really, it's not even about how many kids you have. We're all different in personality, organization ability, coping with stress, and juggling 15 things at once. We all do our best, and we all need to give each other - and ourselves - a break!

{This is not a book review and I was not asked to do this nor compensated in any way. I checked this book out from the library and was just delighted to read that paragraph. It was a great book though, one of the best I've read lately, and I highly recommend it! }