I had this great plan to start getting to bed really, really early one or two times a week. You know, hop in bed at 8:30, read a little, and then drift off. I have been very tired lately, and this plan was supposed to help me out.
Then along came Erika Schickel. Bitch. I foolishly bought this great book she wrote called “You’re Not the Boss of Me” and I just couldn’t put it down.
Before I was a mom I thought that the only way to be a good parent was to be just like me. Yeah, stop laughing.
Now that I’ve been at this for a little while I have learned to appreciate all different kinds of mothers. Maybe I’ll never be the mom getting a lap dance with a girlfriend, or smoking pot behind the compost pile, or playing Grand Theft Auto, but I LOVE that Erika is that mom AND that her girls seem to be thriving.
She and I have a few things in common (a first name, for example), but mostly we lead very dissimilar lives. Early in my mothering career that would have bugged me, and I wouldn’t have enjoyed the story very much. I would have constantly been looking out for the ways she and I were alike and the ways we were not. I guess I needed to see others like myself as some kind of validation of my choices.
But now I’m probably too tired to care, and I just love reading about mothers. For me the success of this book is that I get to peek into another mother’s life and see how she does it. It isn’t a perfect life full of “correct” choices. Its a life full of being full of life. Go read this book.
Comments 7
Shoot, I better get commenting. I’m losing my place at the top. ;)
Thanks for the recommendation. My book club is into the Phillipa Gregory books now, which have been keeping me up till all hours.
Posted 23 Mar 2007 at 3:10 pm ¶FAVORITE MOVIE QUOTE EVER.
“Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop taking amphetamines.” Those two are the only “week” quotes I remember. Ahhhh…good times. Love that movie. *golf claps*
Posted 23 Mar 2007 at 4:24 pm ¶ah yes. for early bedtimes i highly recommend my very large collection of half-read non-fiction books, most of which delve into minutiae of history or philosophy that i really do find fascinating, just in very small doses. read, read, nap. all good. no fiction. plots are hazardous to your sleeping health.
as for other mothers…i like knowing that i could be far less “good” than i am and that my kid would still likely be okay. gives me room to fuck up, i guess. or go smoke up behind the compost pile should that opportunity magically present itself.
so…your name is Erika, huh?
Posted 23 Mar 2007 at 5:45 pm ¶Good job with the close-reading, Bon ;)
Posted 23 Mar 2007 at 5:47 pm ¶Excellent points, PJM!! We need more loving curiosity and less judgment in the momosphere.
Here here!!
Posted 23 Mar 2007 at 11:19 pm ¶thank you. smiles smugly.
Posted 24 Mar 2007 at 4:42 am ¶Thanks for the suggestion - will pick it up!!
Posted 28 Mar 2007 at 5:35 pm ¶Post a Comment