Last Call

Mom and Dad come home from their Florida condo tomorrow...  This is good and bad for me.  It's good for me because they make me live a healthy "normal" lifestyle-- just by being around. 

I can't keep me and the boys in pj's all day and let myself sink into day drinking when they're home.  Routine is back.  Dinner at 5:30ish, news on tv in the morning- in place of Nick jr.  This is good.

What's bad is lack of privacy. Lack of quiet alone time after the boys go to bed.  No more leaving my folded laundry on the couch for 6 days-- now it will be put away.  I realize that this is actually good, but it's more work.  Get the house back to Nana and Pop condition.  ...and a reminder that it is Nana and Pop's house. Not mine.

It's hard when I put my life up on the chalk board to look at it and pick it apart.  I'm 35. I'm a single mom. A single mom. There's a certain stigma and/or reputation that goes with that title, isn't there?  You think about the diner waitress, or something to that effect.  Now I know why that is so cliche--- when you go out on your own and leave your husband, often (as in my case) you have to find a job that will let you be with your kids during their waking hours, and also allow you to be on medicaid since said job does not allow for benefits, and you have to be flexible. Waitress is pretty much where you land.  Luckily, I have nothing but waitress experience for the most part.

Here's my public service announcement:  The next time you go out to dinner, and your waitress looks to be in her 30's or 40's, and she looks rag tag and tired... cut her some slack.  I'll bet she's got a couple of kids at home that she's hoping are doing their homework.  She wishes SHE was reading their bedtime story.   They're surely not drinking the organic milk... they're drinking what's on sale.  Her Ex is out buying a new iphone and gambling on the NCAA tournament.  Treat your waitress well. She's doing the best she can with what energy she's got left. She loves her  kids.  She'll wear that stupid uniform and work the overnight shift serving drunk underage teenagers so that she can buy her kids Buzz Lightyyear light up sneakers.  Be nice to her.