Real Simple Essay Contest

Even though I was well aware of this contest for the last 4 months, I waited until the last day....AGAIN! I had great intentions of being well prepared and writing something sooner. However, this year it wasn't just procrastination. It was the topic. "I never thought I'd...."

I think I could write about almost everything I have ever done. Very few things are as I had imagined. I never thought I would be a teacher. I never thought I would be 30 and living in my hometown. The list could go on and on!

As of this morning, I wasn't even going to enter. Then at about 3:00 today, I decided to use the Marginal Mom's Club entry. I added a little bit to it and amazingly enough, I had a entry that I am semi-happy to send in for the contest. At least I can be proud of the fact that it is unique.

Here is what I sent:

The Marginal Mom’s Club

I never thought I’d be the President of the Marginal Mom’s Club.

After my daughter Elyse was born I quickly realized that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be a perfect mother. In the months leading up to her birth I thought that I had everything figured out about motherhood. I had great plans and dreams about what I thought it would be like to bring a baby home and then we would have a perfect little family. I read many books and perfect examples of motherhood seemed to be on TV and in movies. I thought if those people can do it, then I can too.

I had spent years watching other mothers. I saw things that seemed to be nearly unspeakable. I knew I would never be that mother. You know the moms that take their kids to Wal-mart late at night and scream at them the whole time. When in reality, the kids are just tired and they should probably be in bed fast asleep.

Needless to say my thoughts about being a perfect mother changed quickly. When I brought my bundle of joy home and she didn’t sleep through the night, I knew that there must be something wrong with her. When I thought my nipples might fall off, again, there must be something wrong with this process. I was aiming to be the perfect mother, so therefore, I had the perfect baby.

I realized that perfection, it is still a daily goal, is not realistic. It is easy to go to bed every night feeling terrible about all the things that have gone wrong that day. I started thinking, “Maybe I should have played with her more instead of cleaning the kitchen.” Or, “I really should have read her two more books before bedtime.”

I don't remember exactly how I came up with the idea or when it happened, but I needed something to make me realize that it is okay if I am not a 100% perfect mother.

I may have invented the club when I forgot the whole diaper bag when I was going to be away from home for 8+ hours. This is something that I have done two times. (FYI- larger diapers borrowed from someone else will work in a pinch and SAM’s club has diapers in a little dispenser in the women's restroom for $1 and it includes a few wipes)

Or I could have thought of the idea when we went on vacation to New England in July and I didn't take anything with long sleeves for Elyse. Needless to say she is wrapped in a blanket in many of the pictures. Or many other times that I haven't been the perfect mother.

There is something very freeing in being able to say, "It's okay because I am the president of the Marginal Mom's Club." Please don't get me wrong, I still feel bad for situations, but it is impossible to be 100% perfect all the time.
Elyse has started to use the potty. Being a Marginal Mom we have attempted the potty in places like some bushes outside of a school and a field parking lot as we were leaving a high school football game.

The club has become a great conversation for me and my friends. My sister-in-laws will even call me with stories of their Marginal Mom moments. Others will call and say, “I am the vice president after today.”

If you think you deserve a spot, I am sure that you do too. There is always room for one more!

DL

This is a post all about my drivers license. You may think that is a crazy topic, but it was recently misplaced my a little crazy peanut, Elyse.

My first drivers license, including my wallet, was taken from my high school locker. If I were guessing I would say that this happened in 1996. Then, that SAME license was returned to me in a plastic bag in 2002 by a man that works at the water treatment plant. Who knows where it as hiding all that time!

Like most of you, I have had some good license pictures and some not so good ones.

Right before I officially changed my last name to Day, I had gotten a new license. I have to say, it was one of my favorite pictures. Not that you can really have a great one, but this one was good. After I received my new social security card in the mail with my new last name I went to get a new license. I WRONGLY assumed that they would use the same picture since it was take weeks before. I went in after a nice long run. Hair plastered to my head. No make-up. GROSS! The lady looked at me like I was crazy as I sat down in the picture chair. Needless to say everyone who saw that picture did a double take. It was borderline embarrassing.

Last year I got a new license and I went well prepared for the picture. It was a good one and I was thankful.

However, yesterday I got it out of my wallet to enter my license number into the ODE website. In my haste I laid it down on my desk and did not immediately return it to my wallet. Elyse picked it up and was looking at it. Then my phone rang. Needless to say, I haven't seen it since.

I have looked everywhere. I have asked her about it. I have looked in her favorite spots to hide things.

She LOVES to put things in the sub-wolfer of our sound system. Since she discovered the hole in the front of it we take it apart often to find many treasures. My license was not there. I did find two plastic Easter Eggs after removing the 12 screws to get inside. Notice how the hole is the perfect size for a little arm. What were they thinking?

Elyse also likes to put things in the trash. After doing a quick search in the trash yesterday, I really dug through it tonight. NO LICENSE. I will spare you all the GROSS details about the trash. I think a picture will suffice.

So the search for the drivers license with the good pictures continues. I will let you know if I find it or if I have to break down and get a new one.