This past Saturday afternoon I joined a few of my homeschooling mom friends for a couple hours of fun and freedom to take in the movie 'Moms' Night Out'. I had seen the preview at the beginning of the month, and I was really looking forward to it because it looked like it was pretty funny, but not in a silly farce type of way. Luckily I went into the movie not knowing about the mixed reception it was getting in social media, because..
I LOVED it!
Social media and all the men (!) and women waving their feminist flags can shut the hell up, because this movie nailed it. What is 'it'? Why, it's the inner thoughts and life experiences of the stay-at-home-mom, or SAHM. The raw truth of how much it can suck yet be wonderful all at the same time hurt me in a way that is hard to describe, but it was a good kind of hurt. For once, up there on the big screen, was a woman who was so like me inside her head that it was pretty damn scary. Like, really scary.
I love my life. I really do. But the hard days can sometimes be too much. The child who you thought was potty trained has six separate accidents. And that's just in the morning. The child who insists on pouring his own cup of juice from the full gallon of apple juice. And misses. The dentist appointments, the realization of forgotten ballet shoes upon arrival at class, the child who refuses to go to bed, or get out of bed, pick up their wet towels, charge their phones, finish their math assignment, feed the cat, scrape up the mystery sticky stuff of the table or pick up their socks...from the middle of the backyard. The days when you can't find anything because there is just so much crap, everywhere. The laundry, the dishes, the unopened mail, the schoolwork, the ......just...everything....everything is behind, everything is in need of cleaning, feeding, or some sort of repair. And you have no idea where to start. Not a clue. It's two hours past bedtime and you have no strength left for the the fight. You just want to sink to the floor of a dark closet and cry into your bowl of ice cream. The ice cream you keep on hand for this very purpose, the ice cream that you hide in the back corner of the freezer, hidden inside some nondescript Tupperware. All you ever want is to just get slightly ahead. To be in the anticipatory stage instead of the reactionary. To be ahead - for just once. Just once.
This movie may have hit a nerve for some, but for those of us who are SAHMs - and we come in all sorts of varieties - this movie was a first in calling attention to our fears and needs, and elevating the role we play. We are important and we matter. Sure, we arrived at this station via different routes - some by choice and some not so much - but we are here, so let's support one another. Our job is not for the faint of heart.
I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the creative (homeschooled!) minds who put this movie and its message together...it was the laugh, the cry, the pat on the back that I needed.
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