Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Mommy Diaries

I watched The Nanny Diaries today, which was a bittersweet kind of film. If you haven't seen it, a naive girl gets a job working for an Upper East Side family in New York; neither parent can be bothered to take care of their son. Long story short, movie has a somewhat happy ending.

Ok, so as I was watching the film I thought about how different my life is compared to Mrs. X. She's a "stay at home" mom but she never has time for her child. I scoffed, I tut-tutted, I pee-shawed, and then I took another look at myself. I'm in no way as bad as Mrs. X but I have my days when I am "tuned out" as it were. I'm making lists, I'm crocheting or thinking about projects, I'm planning the future. I'm doing all this stuff, living in my head. Now there is nothing wrong with everybody having "me time", but I have to keep it in the front of my mind that the whole bloody reason I am home is to spend more time with NR. Not to learn new hobbies, plan new careers or anything else. Sure, that means playing Operation for the zillionth time, but that's ok. That is why I am here.

So, as remote as our similarities might be, I'm going to keep Mrs. X in my mind. I'm going to think about her from time to time and check in with my life to make sure I'm keeping it real, keeping it about what is important. I love the other stuff but nowhere near as much as I love NR, so my renewed focus is going to be about "NR time" as much as I can.

Though during school hours, all bets are off.

6 comments:

rosemary said...

I bet I played a zillion ganmes of Chutes and Ladders, built a million forts with Lincoln Logs and made at least 3 California Missions with noodles. That was my me time...the best me I ever was

Sling said...

my youngest son was an absolute Lego-Nazi!..
When he was but a toddlin' lad,he could look at the picture on the box,and build whatever it was just by the color of the pieces..Good times!

Lorraine said...

I just want to hug you right now.

Anonymous said...

More Mommy's like you. That's what the world needs. Oh, and a Universal Health Plan.

Greyhound Girl said...

I just re-read that book and watch the film myself (and post a review about the book). We *heart* our kids.

Heather said...

hehe yea for school hours. :)