One Last Pit (Or, A Gold-Medal Day in the Suck-it-Up Olympics)

Ok I just couldn't resist adding one last "pit" moment, given how today has turned out:

-Being torn away early from work (where I'm stressing out cos it's the last day before I leave on a week long biz trip) to pick up the suddenly scarily feverish kid, and then having him barf on my shoulder while trying to rush him (gently, lovingly) to the bathroom.

It's one of life's worst parenting moments...your kid barfing on you. But you know what? You take it. It's only barf. And this is how love goes. Mix it with worry, with vomit, with whining, with fear--it's still the best thing in the world. I am somewhat amazed to find that I would honestly walk through fire (real fire, with coals underneath my feet and flames crisping my eyelashes) for my child. Strange, but true.

And as long as I'm warming up to a rant here, let me just say that being a parent (and especially a full time working parent) takes a lot of courage, and a boatload of just, well, determination. The good ol' fashioned, grit your teeth and suck it up kind of determination. The salad days of selfishness are gone, gone, gone. I am now all too familiar with that moment when I realize I'm starting to sink in the swamp of overwhelm, but I slog on anyway, through the mud and the bugs and the rain and the cold, refusing to give up. I'm a fucking unsung hero, I tell you. Frodo ain't got nothin' on me.

Some days I feel like the Universe is constantly testing me to see how much I can take (with the intention of someday finally breaking me? I hope not...). But so far I am happy to report that I am still the Heavyweight Champion of Suck-it-up, a multiple gold medalist in the Suck-it-up Olympics. Bring me my Bard. Oh that's right, I don't have one. And no one will ever really know what it's like to practice this kind of daily heroism. Except maybe the other members of Team Mom (or Dad). Go team.