Tired Mom

Walking down the stairs to her room, her heart feels like lead seeing the ever growing pile of laundry, the kids never seem to change their clothes, how is there so much laundry?? She makes a mental note that sometime between getting the kids in bed, lunches made and a few more hours of studying, she can probably squeeze some time in to fold the laundry mountain and maybe get to the dishes.

Laura had been running herself ragged for months, working at a job that she was sure sucked part of her soul out each day, juggling a heavy course load as she ventured her way into pre-med studies. Her mantra was "I am doing this for the kids, I need their lives to be secure and happy, besides, I can sleep when I'm dead". It was all she could do to keep up, but she knew in the end it would be worth it. Laura was strong, independent, and she loved her kids more than anything else, and at the end of the day, in the quiet of her untidy home, she pulled out another textbook and settled in for another long night of dry reading and hand cramping note taking.

It was a cold Monday morning, as the alarm on her phone whistled a cheery tune, Laura rubbed her eyes and dragged her self off her couch that nowadays doubles as her bed when she is too tired to crawl into bed, and shuffles slowly, almost incoherently to the coffee machine. The morning is a blur of usual arguments over whether or not the girls will brush their hair, if they hate school today or not and oh of course Luca didn't start his homework. Laura rushes to explain how to multiply the nine times tables with her fingers to Luca as Jacey looks frantically for a pair of socks. At long last the kids are safely at school and Laura makes her journey to work for another painful day of entering receivables and making small talk with people who complain about how they only got 8 hours of sleep. At lunch she flips through her course calendar and notes that she needs to be on her Zoom lecture at 4pm, at least it gives Rhet time to play on the playground while she joins the call in the car. Towards the end of the work day her boss stopped by to dump a banker's box of Purchase orders on her desk, mumbled something about needing it by morning and sauntered off without a glance in her direction. Laura panicked as she pulled the looming pile out of the box, glancing at the time, she was sure she could get it in on time, maybe.

Exhausted and miserable, Laura puts on her mommy smile and greets the kids, putting her finger to her lips to make sure they are quiet when they get in the car so she can hear the instructor discuss the cell structure of Bacteria. The kids settle in the backseat, pulling on their seatbelts and discuss their days while Laura somehow manages to partly listen to the lecture and her kids. Pulling up to the house, Laura notices a package on the front step, she cannot recall the last time she has ordered anything, but is curious nonetheless. Walking up the steps she reaches down to read the card: "You're doing amazing mama! I know things have been difficult lately for you, so I wanted to do something for you, take care. - K" Laura's eyes well up, when is the last time she cried? Mom's can't cry, that makes kids cry, then it's all chaos. She picks up the box, stumbling under its surprising weight, who is K? She carries the box inside. The kids are excited, mystery packages, just like Christmas morning. Laura opens the box to find a tray of lasagne with heating instructions, kids snacks, a board game and a bottle of bubble bath. She wracks her brain trying to think of who K might be, and breathing shallow while she tries to calm herself, when is the last time something went right? Not having to make dinner tonight? The kids dove into an exciting game of twister while Laura preheats the oven.

Laura glances up at the picture of her family a few years ago, happy, content, safe, bigger... Yes things had been tough since Joey got in the accident, she missed him every minute of the day, the kids missed him every second of the day, and yet, it was the smallest kind gesture from a stranger that made everything seem ok, if only for this moment, that made Laura know that she was heading in the right direction.