Recently a friend (who just had her first baby) emailed me and wrote:
“Mary, I honestly don’t know how you keep it together with four kids and homeschooling, you’re an absolute wonder and model of inspiration to me!”
Her comment made me smile wistfully. If only she knew, I thought to myself. First, I am not really keeping it together (in my humble opinion). I have so many drawers to organize, laundry to fold, a bedroom wall to paint, curtains to hang, Latin vocabulary to teach, history to read and a multitude of other things to achieve. Secondly, we have a new little one in our home to love and cuddle (which I would rather be doing than anything else anyways).
I began to journal about her statement. Some of my friends see me as an organized super-mom, because I like to keep the house neat. I do not like a lot of clutter and piles of laundry drive me nuts. On the other hand, I have friends who do not care so much about having a clean floor or making sure the windows are spotless. They concentrate on other things like doing crafts or other fun projects with their kids. Why do all mothers have different gifts and strengths? The underlying reason is their priorities are just different. Our priorities are different because our temperaments are different. Our temperaments are different because God simply made us that way. My temperament is choleric/sanguine. So I am a very driven, organized and outgoing person. To find out yours, take a free online test here.
I still wish I could sit down on the floor and play pat-a-cake with my toddler but it just is not my thing. It is very difficult for me to “kick the ball around” with the boys in the summer. It is just not my nature-I would rather be reading to my four-year old or organizing my spice drawer. I truly would love to be more spontaneous but in truth, I enjoy living a more planned life. The one thing I do love is reading to my children daily but lately that has been a challenge with a new baby.
Through the years, I have come to appreciate my own temperament and not long so much for other mothers’ gifts that I have not been blessed with. I like the type of mother God created me to be. Although I am always striving to improve my mothering “self”, I’m also okay with who I am now. My toddler may not finger-paint constantly and we only do fun crafts at the library during weekly story time, but he has memorized the book, “Jamberry” and thought we should name our new baby, “Robert McCloskey.” I am okay with that. And now on to be a Magistra for the morning….
HI Mary – I REALLY enjoyed this blog. Thank you! Also, I have been trying to e mail you and it keeps bouncing back. Can you e mail me so I can respond. I have a mommy question for you??? Thinking of you often and hope you are the new baby and the boys and Tim are all well. Stay Warm! Andrea Melberg Thompson