Reflechtions On Being A Mom

by Beth Duewel

When my husband wondered if I would like to convert our dining room into a home office I was sooo up for it. Instead of the dungeons of the basement or the tree-house heights of a bedroom, I could type away in the dining room—the hub of the household. What a great idea!!!

The revamping didn’t take long. Take a table to the basement, stash the extras in the bottom of an unused cabinet, face the computer towards the light of day, and accomplish great things in my new place. Seemed like a super start to me.

Lets see now, what was the word that I oh, so flippantly used to describe my new office space? Oh yes…HUB. According to my dictionary the word hub is all inclusive meaning center, focal point, and in celebration of the nature in which I used it: “The heart of it all.” How wonderful…how complete…how close to the family…uhhh…wait a minute?!?

And so I discover “thinking" rather difficult with laundry loads of distractions and tornadoes whirling around my little hub. That’s why on any particular day, for no particular reason, the milk gets put in the pantry, Rice Crispies float in the cat’s water dish, and my son’s boxers are placed neatly in my daughter’s drawer. My defense: a mom can only multi-task and get disrupted so much before something snap-crackles-and POPS.

Although, I guess you can say there is a great deal to be learned with this method of staying in familial touch. For instance, rarely does a squabble or sibling fight occur that I am not right in the thick of it. Honestly, nothing gets past this old bloodhound!

“Mom, (the yell reverberates from a mere three feet away), Josh is picking on me!”
“She won’t quit hiding the snacks, she’s like a squirrel!”
“Brooke, please dig your brother up some crackers and get along.”

In mid squabble the phone rings.

“Mooom—it’s a recording.”
“Honey just hang up.”
“But mom it said, dooo nooot hang up.”
“It’s okay—hang up.”

Moment of brief silence.

“Mom, there’s an alive person now and she wants to know if you want to renew your warranty on the car or something. Do you want to renew your warranty?”
“I don’t even have a car warranty to re-new,” I say in mid-type.

Moment of briefer silence.

“Well now she wants to know if you want to buy a new warranty and then you can re-new it…or…something like that… I don’t know.” Click.

Aggggg.

As my oldest daughter approaches graduation, however, I’m quickly discovering all this seemingly disruption is but a second in time. Looking back at the interruptions, the chaos, the unplanned moments and circumstances, I can smell what is the sweet brevity of motherhood. And I’m sure some day my fingers will type away in silent reflection while my husband toils in the garden, you know, growing things we no longer can chew. As I sit quietly…sooo quietly…too quietly…

“MOOOM!” (the glorious sound breaks my anxious thoughts) “I need a ride to the school, can you take me, please?”

On second thought, being in the hub of chaos is a very fine place to be indeed!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun. Ecclesiastes 3:1. (NIV).

Copyright © 2009 - Elizabeth Duewel. All rights reserved.