“How was your day?”
This is the first thing my husband asks as me as he walks in the door. It’s almost 8:00 p.m.
My answer is the same as it is most days. “I’m worn out,” I say.
It’s only Tuesday, but I feel like I haven’t stopped since I woke up Monday morning, minus the little sleep I got last night because my seven-year-old came and got in our bed because she had a bad dream. (I felt like Elf. “I got a full 40 minutes!”) She was all up in my business and I don’t think my husband even knew she was there until the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.
Early Morning
We do our before school ritual of getting the kids breakfast, making lunch and snacks, then getting out the door on time. My husband takes our son to the middle school and I drop off our daughter at the elementary, which is about half a mile from our house. So, at least I get the short drive.
I’m back home by 7:30 a.m. I pour a cup of orange juice (I don’t even drink coffee, y’all) and my day starts immediately because there’s just so. much. to. do. I’m a newspaper editor/ journalist and while every day is different, they are always busy.
I’m still working from home (which is great!) but then there are always house duties to do during the day, so there’s really never a minute of free time.
I make a to do list for every day, for both work and non-work things. (I don’t know how people without list function!) Now, it’s time to start checking things off.
My Workday
Today was one of those days filled with constant emails, texts, questions, and letting my dog out about 25 times. Remy (my dog) spends her days next to me, sleeping most of the time. I just look at her some days and wish we could trade places.
Besides writing, editing, planning for the next month’s issue and scheduling interviews, I made graphics for our PTO Facebook page, paid bills, returned texts, emptied the dishwasher, let the dog out again, put dirty clothes in the hamper, then finally realized at 1:00 p.m. I hadn’t showered. I did, then I was out the door to go take photos at a local business.
During the photos, I could feel my blood sugar dropping, so I stopped at a drive through to get some chicken fingers and a Dr. Pepper, since I knew I wasn’t going be home for dinner because I had to cover a council meeting.
From there, it was immediately time to get in carpool line. This is the 30 minutes of the day when I can actually catch my breath. Some days I work while I’m in the car, but most days I try to catch up on my reading. It goes by fast, and once I pick her up, we head to the middle school to get my son.
After School
We got home at 3:30 p.m. and then, as always, I went through their backpacks in search of anything that needed to be read or signed. I quickly unloaded the dishwasher and threw a nice sweater over my black leggings and headed to the meeting.
Getting home around 7 p.m., I cleaned up the kitchen, looked over my son’s Schoology account and reminded him to do his math homework. (He could actually do today’s assignment by himself, thank goodness!) I had just sent him up to take a shower when my husband walked in and asked how my day was.
(Oh, and I’m writing this blog at 9:00 p.m. on deadline day, because the one I previously submitted was one that in I had already written in January of 2021!)
Bedtime
Now that I’ve got the kids in bed, I’ll make my to do list for tomorrow, read my daily devotional and see how much sleep I can get tonight.
My boss asked me last week how I do all the things that I do. I really don’t even know if there’s an answer for that besides starting my days early, ending them late, making my to-do list, and just doing the best I can.
So for all the mamas out there who are worn out, I’m with you. Although we may not always get the praise or recognition we deserve, at least we know we’re not alone.
