Juggling (aka dropping balls)

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans”.

So said Allen Saunders.

And John Lennon sang it too – so it must be true.

As I sit here (on my own! in a cafe! with a laptop!), I am savouring this hour-of-peace and reflecting on a week of unexpected busyness. I am musing on the way mamas have to juggle. And how we sometimes drop the balls (all of them!).

This week, my hubster has worked extra-long hours, my lovely cleaner (who doubles as my toddler’s best friend) has been ill, and so I have found myself juggling more balls than usual. I know that many mamas juggle far more balls than I do, with more children, more pets, husbands who are around less, demanding jobs and so on. But maybe that’s not the point. Maybe this is one of those situations where comparing ourselves with others is just futile.

It’s easy for others to make this whole motherhood-life-thing look easy. Social media allows us to present our perfect (and not-the-whole-picture) world to the rest of the world. Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and the many, many lifestyle blogs out there can inspire – on a good day – infuriate on the not-so-great days, and leave us feeling inadequate almost every day. The beautiful pictures of perfect (clean!) children, the baking, the homemade toys/clothes/activities, the witty writing. They can make juggling look simple.

And it isn’t. Because life isn’t simple. Or straightforward.

Stuff happens. We can plan but we can’t predict. We can organise but we can’t control.

So today I am thankful for mama-friends who don’t pretend to have it all sorted. For those who find themselves still in their pyjamas at 10am. On a weekday. With piles of ironing stashed away in the spare room. And messy kitchen cupboards. And children with dirty faces.

I read a blog recently about “super-mummies”. I hate that phrase! I am not a super-wife. I am not a super-daughter. Or a super-sister. So why would I aspire to be a super-mum?

Surely we are all just mums, juggling, picking up dropped balls, dropping some more, picking them up.

And dropping them again.