But then there are mornings like this

Sometimes I am so grateful to get to be the one who goes into the office and talks to grown ups and doesn’t have to deal with tantrums or the onslaught of questions that come out of three year olds. I can go for a run on my lunch break without a stroller and I can go to the bathroom without any one following me to ask what it is that I am doing, and is it poop or pee and is it an emergency and do I need privacy?

Yes. Sometimes I am so grateful I get to be that parent.

This morning I woke up as usual, with both kids snuggled tightly against me. I slipped quietly out of bed and shuffled down the hallway with my coffee. Jay called from bed. “Mama? Mama……? Are you going to work today?” I am, I called back. Coming out from the bedroom, he rubbed his eyes. “Don’t go, Mama.” I told him I had to go to work. I go to work to earn money for the family, I explained. He implored me. “Don’t go to work.” Then he went into his room and got out his money jar, an old peanut butter jar that he saves his pennies in. “We already have money. See, Mama? You don’t have to go today.”

…But then there are mornings like this.