Mommy Does Do Something

I think that I finally have an answer to those family members who say I do nothing but sit on the computer / study with Ricki or prepare materials / volunteer for Down syndrome organizations.
I should have taken a video on my arrival home after four days at the Down syndrome conference. Despite my son having “done the dishes and the laundry” at least once, the house was a wreck. The bathroom needed disinfecting; the sink was full to overflowing with dishes. In addition, the table in the living room was piled high with assorted toys and games, crayons and scissors. And there were about 4 loads of dirty laundry waiting for my attention. (This is despite the fact that I had washed all of the family’s clothing down to the last sock before my departure.)
Thus, it stands to reason, that normally, in addition to preparing study materials for Ricki, I :
-Do all the things we hired people to do while I was at the conference.
-Do the things we forwent when I was gone (taking Ricki to private dance/ swimming classes)
-Do what family members did instead of me during my absence
-Do what usually gets done, and wasn’t done during my vacation.

Case rested.

Diamonds

Today I spent most of the afternoon putting my kitchen back in order. (I’m 95% done.) It is nice, of course, to have these normally somewhat jumbled dishes sitting primly in order, as if awaiting a beckoning call. I admit that I don’t often straighten them up.

Sometimes the dichotomy of my life strikes me as rather strange. Half of my time is filled up with domestic chores: cooking, laundry, and the like. Much of the second half I am working at a very intellectual pursuit: adapting materials for Ricki’s studies, and studying with her. I adapt materials at a very high level, and considering that I am working in a language that I am not fluent in, this is no mean accomplishment. Yet, in actuality, many women find themselves in a similar ship. I think that the challenge is to realize that all of these facets need to intertwine and interplay to create a fused whole. A diamond has many sides and faces.
We can not ignore one aspect of our lives, just because we find another part more fun, fashionable, or supposedly “dignified”. Because, in the end, our success will not be measured by the money we earn, or the position we held, but by the hearts we have won and held and soothed.

Computer Glitch

Today I spent much of the day trying to deal with a computer glitch. In order to fix something, I had deleted my printer, and when trying to reinstall it, the program decided that my main disk had no empty space (not true at all!). Eventually I got everything working, but felt quite frustrated at the waste of time.
I suspect my husband felt that it was an “avoidance of work” on my part, since my kitchen is still in a state of post-Pesach havoc. (I had put the special Passover dishes away, but had only arranged to arrange about two thirds of the regular dishes. The rest were strewn around VERY haphazardly.)
Yet the reality is that Ricki’s return to school means my return to adapting materials….which is impossible without a good graphics program/ scanner/ printer/computer.

And you can add “time” to that list, which means that tonight I will not be tackling those dishes, either. Geography of France is awaiting my “touch”.