The Eleven Things I Like Best About Being a Mom

i tried to make it ten. i failed. i could easily make it 100, but that seemed excessive.


1. there is always someone around who is stranger than me and smells worse than i do

2. i never feel unimportant, because there's always someone who needs me RIGHT NOW to do THIS

3. it has taught me to laugh at myself more and to chill the f**k out. and to swear less.

4. i have a built-in excuse to be silly and watch cartoons and to drink chocolate milk

5. my smile is closer to the surface and faster to pop out because life is joyful and because i want to see him smile back at me all the time.

6. now i have a great excuse for my house and car to be total disasters. i mean, they always were, just now people nod understandably and blame the kid.

7. i've learned i don't mind drinking cold coffee or warm wine. i'm lower maintenance in general.

8. now i have a great excuse for my belly pooching out over my jeans and my armpit fat oozing out the side of my shirt. i mean, they always did, just now people nod understandably and blame the kid.

9. i love watching our parents be grandparents and our siblings be aunts and uncles. it turns out that this whole time everyone was just waiting for an excuse to get ridiculous. and they're all better for it.

10. i love parenting with robb. he's really good at it. organized and responsible and fun and loving. he takes amazing care of henry, and me, when i need it. it turns out that i was underestimating him all those years that i thought if i died he'd be helpless in our house, living in his own filth with the power shut off and forgetting how to talk to people, like Gollum. i think now that he (they) would manage just fine. (besides, the electric company sends 2 notices).

11. i love how it feels to love like this. and i think i feel closer to God because i'm assuming that the huge love i feel for henry is a mere fraction of how God loves me. and, like....whoa.