I Don't Know How She Does It

The other night, as I was picking up my boys from school, I ran into the mother of one of Carter's classmates. It was about 5:57pm, and I was tottering into the preschool in my pencil skirt and button-down, having just picked up Griffin at the infant center next door. I had Griffin in his carseat under one arm and was rounding up all of Carter's belongings with the other while trying to convince him that it was Driving Home Time instead of Lego Time, when this mom looked over at me and said "TWO little ones...I don't know how you do it."

Oh, other mom. Bless your heart, because you have no idea how happy that little off-hand comment made me. I smiled in response and said something like "Thanks - it's pretty crazy" but what I was really thinking was I don't know either, lady.

Now, I know there are plenty of women out there who do what I do every day and make it look easy. I know that there are also plenty of working moms out there who have more than two kids, who run out of the office at 5:45pm every night and race the clock to pick-'em-up, drive home, make dinner, get everyone in the bath and to bed on time, clean up all the detritus of the day and then wake up tomorrow to do it all over again. Women do this every day, in every city everywhere, and many of them do it with a lot less help than me.

But for just a moment, when this other mom looked at me admiringly and tossed out that small compliment, I felt like a little bit of a rock star. And in the tumult of my first week as a working mom of two, it was just what I needed to hear. And I thought I'm not sure either, other mom - but by damn, I'm doing it. I'm doing it!

And I am.