I am a wife and a mother.  These are my chosen professions and each title comes with a number of jobs.  Beyond the usual “mom taxi” and “chief cook and bottle washer,” I am many things.  Add to that the fact that I am homeschooling my children, it’s no wonder that my house is in the shape that it is.

On any given day I am preparing meals, changing diapers, and teaching school.  Some days you may find me administering spelling tests with my notebook balanced across the kitchen sink as I prepare lunch.  As my children grow older and their friendships become more complicated, I also find myself carefully guiding them through the world of interpersonal relationships.  I can correct both manners and math tests without skipping a beat.   I can fold laundry, talk on the phone and tie a shoe at the same time.

It hasn’t always been this way, of course.  Once upon a time I was just me.  My time was my own and I could do with it as I pleased.  If I wanted to do absolutely nothing on a Saturday, I could.  I could spend a Sunday afternoon watching football and reading the paper.  Nobody depended on me.

I got a little taste of being Just Me today.  I met a longtime friend in Old Town Alexandria.  We attempted to have lunch at a new restaurant, but 45 minutes after ordering, our food didn’t arrive.  We walked out.  But honestly, it wasn’t too bad because we were chatting the whole time.  We even talked to two English guys sitting next to us.  We found a different place to eat and talked the whole time.  Later we went to a local knitting shop and I bought too much yarn knit some and talked even more.

I was gone most of the day.  I relished the adult conversation and the chance to only  worry about myself.  I got to drink my soda without sharing. It was fun to remember the Me that used to be and still exists deep inside.

You know what else was fun?  Walking in the front door and having three little people run up to me calling, “Mama!”.  Because that’s Me, too, the Me that I am right now.  A Me that needs a break every so often so that I can return home, refreshed and renewed.

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