Author. Wife. Mother. Fangirl.
These are the monikers I use most often to describe myself. There are many more, a million more, but these are the ones I use the most. There are days that I am more one than the other.
Today, Mother jumped to the front of the line. Don’t get me wrong, I am always a mother. Always. I have been a mother for 23+ years and I am damn proud of that particular moniker. But my children are grown or almost grown – 2 adult daughters, 23 and 21, and a 17-almost-18-year-old son who is off to the military in a few short months – so I don’t find myself wearing my mother hat 24/7 like I did when they were little. I pull it out every now and then, but I’ve worked hard to make my children be self-sufficient, so more often than not, I step back and let them figure it out on their own.
But today, The Boy, my baby (who isn’t really a baby, not at 6 feet and 150 pounds of pure muscle), sliced open his finger at school. He called me as he made his way to the nurse’s office, panic in his voice, immediately putting me on edge as he talked about his finger “gushing blood.” Ten minutes later the school nurse called me and suggested he go for stitches. She did comment that he was bleeding A LOT and she was concerned because the cut was on the joint. Basically, every time he moved his finger, the cut reopened and started bleeding anew.
I made arrangements to leave work, then hurried to school to pick up The Boy. I was in full MOTHER mode, making an appointment to get him into the urgent care by our house, talking to the school nurse, and letting his dad know what happened.
Three hours later, he is stitched and splinted and none the worse for wear. He’ll probably have a gnarly scar, but no big deal. It’s not the first and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
I’ve been in full AUTHOR mode for a couple of weeks now, ever since I got Private Lives ready for pre-order. It has been on my mind constantly. I wake up in the middle of the night and think of something new to do for release day, I wake up wondering if it’s any good, I fuss over every little thing. But today, MOTHER mode took over and for a few hours, I didn’t even think about my book.
Isn’t it fascinating how we can shift gears in our lives so quickly? How we can toss one hat aside for another, then minutes later put on yet another hat? I love it. I love that I can be so many things at once and every single one of those monikers I have – author, wife, mother, fangirl – can co-exist peacefully in one person. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. I can be so much more, do so much more.
There are no limits.