Sometimes family gatherings smother the life out of you. I escaped to the bathroom leaving the family escapades behind. A stack of games piled up in the corner. “Tip It” caught my eye. Do you remember it? A clown balances on his nose upside down supported by a tripod. Players add rings, but too many rings on one pod, he falls off and you lose the game.
As I sat on the only throne I will ever sit on, I pondered how I felt like that little clown balancing on his nose. The only difference between me and him was his game was limited to 2 -4 players, my game had unlimited amount of players just waiting disrupt my balance in motherhood.
The balancing act of motherhood is a difficult one.
We balance on our nose and most of the time we do well, but sometimes someone puts a ring on our balancing act and causes us to fall. It could be the kids get sick, or the dog. Maybe the roof starts leaking, or the furnace breaks. A playdate cancels, or an unexpected client dinner pops up. The three year old thinks he’s twelve and your twelve year old acts like she’s three. Whatever it may be, there are interruptions on our days. My mind is in a constant state of weighing and measuring priorities to create a balance.
In the daily life of a family there is just no way everything will go as planned. If it did we’d be suspicious.
There are oodles of books and articles written on how to find a balance in life. If there was an answer, only one book would exist and everyone would follow it. Our children would be happy, well adjusted children. Well, there isn’t one true answer to parenting and there isn’t one true answer to balancing.
Want to know why?
Because life is in a constant state of change. Everyday brings on new challenges beyond our control. What happens in our world, communities and sometimes our own house is unpredictable. It’s a beautiful spiral that never stops and forces us to change, grow, develop and learn. Guess I shouldn’t worry too much about tipping over when I’m trying to balance. Who knows, I may land somewhere that challenges me to do something new.
