Mom for a Week.
For my parents' 20th anniversary, they decided to go on a fancy vacation in Mexico to celebrate. They planned for several months to get the right flight reservations and worked to take time off of work and prepare. Originally, my grandparents (dad's parents) were going to come down and stay with us for the week so we wouldn't be so alone or feel so overwhelmed with taking care of a house + taking care of the 1 1/2 year old brother. But, thinking I could handle it, I told them that they wouldn't be needed that week and told them to come another time throughout the year. But, as time progressed and more information was given to me, I was silently wishing that I hadn't said 'no' to my grandparents. I was silently wishing my parents weren't leaving the country for a week with me in charge of 3 boys and a house. But with my mother constantly telling me that I'd be okay and assuring me that she'd make sure the boys pulled their weight, I became more relieved about the idea. Until the week finally came.
I was fine. Originally, I was fine. Then I was frightened and scared. I was terrified and overwhelmed. I had never been away from my parents for an entire week before. Well, two years ago I spent Spring Break with my aunt + uncle in Houston. But I had my aunt + uncle plus 4-5 cousins to keep me company and to hang out with. This, though, this was different. This time, I didn't have cousins. I didn't have aunts or uncles. It was just me. It was just me, taking care of 3 boys: one being 19 and starting summer classes, one being 12 and finishing 7th grade, and one being only a year and a half old and still taking 2 naps a day. Plus, there was the house to keep in shape and the dishwasher to load and dinner to make. Every day. Remember y'all, I'm only 17. I'm just finishing my junior year of high school. I'm not ready to be substitute mom! And dad! It's quite overwhelming when you take over such a big job in such a small amount of time.
I was juggling many different emotions as the months went by and my parents' vacation drew near. One day, I'd be very enthusiastic and supportive about my parents going, and I seemed to have everything under control. Two days later, however, I'm silently begging my parents to stay home and I'm crying in the bathroom because I wouldn't be able to handle such a big responsibility. Yes, I was being a big baby. But I'm an emotional teenage girl. What do you expect?
Positive and negative things arose as time went on. Positive being that my mother helped me with preparing a meal plan + a chore plan so that I knew what we were eating all week and I knew what jobs needed to be done. I was given phone numbers to many of my parents' friends who offered to help us if we needed anything (another big positive. Thank you so much, my parents' friends!) But negative things happened also. One big one, is that my parents wouldn't have cell phone service while in Mexico. That means, that I couldn't call my mom in case of an emergency. I wouldn't be allowed to just text her if I needed something real quick. That honestly bugged me a little. I'm a Mama's girl (+ a Daddy's girl. I just love my parents, okay?!) And knowing that I couldn't contact them at all for a week was very hard. I was used to talking to my parents daily or used to knowing I could talk to them whenever I needed. But this time, I wouldn't be able to talk to them at all. I wouldn't even have the opportunity. But thankfully, my mom went to the T-Mobile store and checked it out, and we did come to realize that we did have cell phone service in Mexico, to an extent. So if I did need to, I could contact them. Thank goodness!
Finally, the weekend before the big 'week without parents' came upon us, and to be quite honest, I was an emotional wreck that Friday. We were packing up the van to visit Louisiana for my uncle's college graduation, and every step in the process toward leaving for that trip had me in tears. Mama would be walking around, checking to see if everything was packed, and giving me last-minute instructions as to what to do in case of certain emergencies, and trying to remember it all was racking my brain. I remember in the last few minutes before walking out the door, overwhelm consumed me. I remember thinking, this is really happening. I'm about to take over the house for a week. I'm not prepared for this. This is too much information. What if I forget something? What if something bad happens? What will I do? Pretty much all those questions and comments came to my head in the last fifteen minutes before we left on this weekend trip. And when you think of all those drastic things all at once, you can get emotional. So, as I'm pulling out of the driveway (Yes, I did drive a portion of the way to Louisiana. I'm just so cool.), I start crying. My crying actually comes to the point where my dad asks me if he needs to take over driving. I laugh and say 'no' because I really wanted to drive, but at the same time it probably would've been safer... But it's okay, because my tears didn't last long and we made it to Louisiana just fine.
Of course the night before my parents leave for their huge Mexico trip, everyone is talking last minute details about flight boarding and how my brothers and me are getting home, and all these different things. The questions that came to mind three days ago, start showing up again in my brain, but this time, in overdrive. I just sat on my aunt's bed and watched my mom pack her suitcase and I tried so hard holding back tears.
Right before we head for bed, my family huddled together in my aunt's kitchen for goodbye hugs (my parents plane left early the next morning), and we prayed together. It was a precious time to have my family together one last time before the week got crazy. After my daddy ended the prayer, I looked up to see my mom in tears, just like me. Like mother, like daughter, ladies + gents! haha The tears continued to flow and my grandma made the 'humorous' remark about what would happen if their plane were to crash and all that horrible nonsense. It was obviously made out to be a joke, but I was just an emotional wreck and the tears just started to flow like Niagara Falls. I was half laughing and half just freaking out. My grandma felt awful about making me cry so much, but I reassured her through my tears that I was just emotional and I understood the humor. It's okay, Marmee. I got it. ;)
So, the week went by surprisingly well. I didn't really follow that meal chart at all like I should've (ooops), but we lived to see the light of day every morning! So, no harm done. ;) I also came to realize that TV dinners are so deceptive. They look so good on the packaging, and the thought of them sounds so exciting and fun. But trust me, they are neither fun or exciting. They taste awful. I'm so disappointed.
I also learned about patience more now than ever. I guess you could call me one that lacks in the patience area of my life. I can get easily ticked off by little things that don't go like I want them to...that's definitely not a good trait to have. Trust me. There were days when the 1-year old wouldn't obey me and it really bugged me. He would start crying for no reason and it was very frustrating, so I would start raising my voice at him to stop. That obviously didn't help the situation. (Word of advice: yelling at a 1 year old doesn't do anything. They don't know better. It just makes the situation worse. So, I wouldn't suggest doing it.) There were other times when the 12-year old wouldn't listen to me. He's only 4 years younger than me (yes, if you count it out, that is 5 years. But his birthday is June. Back to the story..), so there are times he doesn't look up to me as 'authority', but more like someone that's a few years older than me and what I ask him to do is more like a suggestion. That often bugged me also. I guess you could say that there were plenty of times that I didn't show a good share of patience. I'm still working on that...
Another fun thing that happened that week was that I tried dip dying my hair. EEEP. It was with Kool-Aid, so it was only temporary and it didn't damage my hair, so that was a double bonus. I saw it on the internet and thought it looked like fun, so I walked down to the nearest HEB and tried it out. But, I have pretty dark hair and the color I chose was purple (when you add water to purple Kool-Aid, it turns dark purple, by the way), so it didn't really do anything. I even kept it in the 'dye' 10 extra minutes and nothing happened. Oh well haha. I guess I'd have to have blonde hair to try it out...Or just dye my hair with real dye (nope, that's never happening).
But I have learned many different things this week and I'm honestly grateful for this opportunity. I'm hoping not to do it again anytime real soon, but it has provided some good memories.
I really have a true respect for single moms now. I already respected them greatly, but I have an even higher honor towards them. Single moms (and dads), what you do is amazing. You happen to work, and run a house, and take care of children, and maybe still have time for yourself. I don't really know how you do it, but it is phenomenal. I applaud you. In your children's place, I would like to thank you for all you do for them. They may not tell you enough, but they really do appreciate you.
But in the end, I survived the week. I'm actually still in the middle of the week (My parents come home in 2 days. YAY!), so I may not actually survive the week....I guess you'll just have to wait for my next blog post to see if I'm still alive. ;)
Until later (hopefully),
Becca ~xoxo~
I was fine. Originally, I was fine. Then I was frightened and scared. I was terrified and overwhelmed. I had never been away from my parents for an entire week before. Well, two years ago I spent Spring Break with my aunt + uncle in Houston. But I had my aunt + uncle plus 4-5 cousins to keep me company and to hang out with. This, though, this was different. This time, I didn't have cousins. I didn't have aunts or uncles. It was just me. It was just me, taking care of 3 boys: one being 19 and starting summer classes, one being 12 and finishing 7th grade, and one being only a year and a half old and still taking 2 naps a day. Plus, there was the house to keep in shape and the dishwasher to load and dinner to make. Every day. Remember y'all, I'm only 17. I'm just finishing my junior year of high school. I'm not ready to be substitute mom! And dad! It's quite overwhelming when you take over such a big job in such a small amount of time.
I was juggling many different emotions as the months went by and my parents' vacation drew near. One day, I'd be very enthusiastic and supportive about my parents going, and I seemed to have everything under control. Two days later, however, I'm silently begging my parents to stay home and I'm crying in the bathroom because I wouldn't be able to handle such a big responsibility. Yes, I was being a big baby. But I'm an emotional teenage girl. What do you expect?
Positive and negative things arose as time went on. Positive being that my mother helped me with preparing a meal plan + a chore plan so that I knew what we were eating all week and I knew what jobs needed to be done. I was given phone numbers to many of my parents' friends who offered to help us if we needed anything (another big positive. Thank you so much, my parents' friends!) But negative things happened also. One big one, is that my parents wouldn't have cell phone service while in Mexico. That means, that I couldn't call my mom in case of an emergency. I wouldn't be allowed to just text her if I needed something real quick. That honestly bugged me a little. I'm a Mama's girl (+ a Daddy's girl. I just love my parents, okay?!) And knowing that I couldn't contact them at all for a week was very hard. I was used to talking to my parents daily or used to knowing I could talk to them whenever I needed. But this time, I wouldn't be able to talk to them at all. I wouldn't even have the opportunity. But thankfully, my mom went to the T-Mobile store and checked it out, and we did come to realize that we did have cell phone service in Mexico, to an extent. So if I did need to, I could contact them. Thank goodness!
Finally, the weekend before the big 'week without parents' came upon us, and to be quite honest, I was an emotional wreck that Friday. We were packing up the van to visit Louisiana for my uncle's college graduation, and every step in the process toward leaving for that trip had me in tears. Mama would be walking around, checking to see if everything was packed, and giving me last-minute instructions as to what to do in case of certain emergencies, and trying to remember it all was racking my brain. I remember in the last few minutes before walking out the door, overwhelm consumed me. I remember thinking, this is really happening. I'm about to take over the house for a week. I'm not prepared for this. This is too much information. What if I forget something? What if something bad happens? What will I do? Pretty much all those questions and comments came to my head in the last fifteen minutes before we left on this weekend trip. And when you think of all those drastic things all at once, you can get emotional. So, as I'm pulling out of the driveway (Yes, I did drive a portion of the way to Louisiana. I'm just so cool.), I start crying. My crying actually comes to the point where my dad asks me if he needs to take over driving. I laugh and say 'no' because I really wanted to drive, but at the same time it probably would've been safer... But it's okay, because my tears didn't last long and we made it to Louisiana just fine.
Of course the night before my parents leave for their huge Mexico trip, everyone is talking last minute details about flight boarding and how my brothers and me are getting home, and all these different things. The questions that came to mind three days ago, start showing up again in my brain, but this time, in overdrive. I just sat on my aunt's bed and watched my mom pack her suitcase and I tried so hard holding back tears.
Right before we head for bed, my family huddled together in my aunt's kitchen for goodbye hugs (my parents plane left early the next morning), and we prayed together. It was a precious time to have my family together one last time before the week got crazy. After my daddy ended the prayer, I looked up to see my mom in tears, just like me. Like mother, like daughter, ladies + gents! haha The tears continued to flow and my grandma made the 'humorous' remark about what would happen if their plane were to crash and all that horrible nonsense. It was obviously made out to be a joke, but I was just an emotional wreck and the tears just started to flow like Niagara Falls. I was half laughing and half just freaking out. My grandma felt awful about making me cry so much, but I reassured her through my tears that I was just emotional and I understood the humor. It's okay, Marmee. I got it. ;)
So, the week went by surprisingly well. I didn't really follow that meal chart at all like I should've (ooops), but we lived to see the light of day every morning! So, no harm done. ;) I also came to realize that TV dinners are so deceptive. They look so good on the packaging, and the thought of them sounds so exciting and fun. But trust me, they are neither fun or exciting. They taste awful. I'm so disappointed.
I also learned about patience more now than ever. I guess you could call me one that lacks in the patience area of my life. I can get easily ticked off by little things that don't go like I want them to...that's definitely not a good trait to have. Trust me. There were days when the 1-year old wouldn't obey me and it really bugged me. He would start crying for no reason and it was very frustrating, so I would start raising my voice at him to stop. That obviously didn't help the situation. (Word of advice: yelling at a 1 year old doesn't do anything. They don't know better. It just makes the situation worse. So, I wouldn't suggest doing it.) There were other times when the 12-year old wouldn't listen to me. He's only 4 years younger than me (yes, if you count it out, that is 5 years. But his birthday is June. Back to the story..), so there are times he doesn't look up to me as 'authority', but more like someone that's a few years older than me and what I ask him to do is more like a suggestion. That often bugged me also. I guess you could say that there were plenty of times that I didn't show a good share of patience. I'm still working on that...
Another fun thing that happened that week was that I tried dip dying my hair. EEEP. It was with Kool-Aid, so it was only temporary and it didn't damage my hair, so that was a double bonus. I saw it on the internet and thought it looked like fun, so I walked down to the nearest HEB and tried it out. But, I have pretty dark hair and the color I chose was purple (when you add water to purple Kool-Aid, it turns dark purple, by the way), so it didn't really do anything. I even kept it in the 'dye' 10 extra minutes and nothing happened. Oh well haha. I guess I'd have to have blonde hair to try it out...Or just dye my hair with real dye (nope, that's never happening).
But I have learned many different things this week and I'm honestly grateful for this opportunity. I'm hoping not to do it again anytime real soon, but it has provided some good memories.
I really have a true respect for single moms now. I already respected them greatly, but I have an even higher honor towards them. Single moms (and dads), what you do is amazing. You happen to work, and run a house, and take care of children, and maybe still have time for yourself. I don't really know how you do it, but it is phenomenal. I applaud you. In your children's place, I would like to thank you for all you do for them. They may not tell you enough, but they really do appreciate you.
But in the end, I survived the week. I'm actually still in the middle of the week (My parents come home in 2 days. YAY!), so I may not actually survive the week....I guess you'll just have to wait for my next blog post to see if I'm still alive. ;)
Until later (hopefully),
Becca ~xoxo~
Comments
Post a Comment