Giving Thanks: Mother/Daughter Edition

It's November. The month of Thanks. Also my birthday month; you're welcome! I refuse to post every day all that I am thankful for, because no one wants to read that shit. But I do think it's important to give thanks for those with the ultimate thankless job: Motherhood.

She's been giving me the finger since Day One

I have been in a unique position the last few months to experience motherhood while simultaneously living as a daughter. Parenting while also being parented. If this is confusing, see my last post about why we are living in my parents' house. Wearing these two hats is unnatural. I only have one head. Parenting a toddler is hard enough without having to do so in a small opinion-filled bubble. At the same time, I am so thankful that I have this bubble to parent in, or else we'd be renting some random apartment somewhere waiting for this short sale to go through. How is it possible to be filled with so much gratitude and so over it at the same time?

Being in this mother/daughter tug-of-war has helped me see things from both sides. Mothers everywhere know that it's a thankless job, but being a daughter isn't always a walk in the park.

As a mother:

• You give and you give and you keep giving when you have nothing left, and your kid still says your dinner is gross. 

• You get up 10 times per night for a week straight because your kid is sick, only to end up sick yourself after your daughter coughs in your mouth. Even after you're sick and you'd kill for some sleep, you forego the NyQuil because you know you'll have to get up with her again tonight. 

• You spend so much time putting her to bed, putting her back to bed, taking her to the bathroom for the 5th time, reading one more book, and filling up her water, that your husband is asleep on the couch by the time you're ready to watch that show together.

• You miss the Monday Night Football matchup that will decide if your fantasy team wins because she realllllyy wants to watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood together. 

• You change three poopy pairs of underwear in under 2 hours because she insists she's not a baby and does not want to put on a diaper. 

As a daughter:

• You vent about an issue you're having in life, only to have one of your character flaws pointed out to you

• You have to justify why you refuse to put your daughter in her carseat with that puffy winter coat on

• You're in charge of fixing, updating, and functioning anything technical

• You do your laundry wrong

• You're a terrible driver

• Your life expectations are unrealistic

While being a mother and/or a daughter can sometimes feel like a big Fuck You,  in the end everything seems to balance itself out. Any grief you get from your mom is for all those years she thanklessly put up with your crap.

Of course, there are wonderful, fulfilling aspects of being both a mother and a daughter. You get a shopping buddy for life, a best friend and confidant, someone who will take care of you forever and who will honestly tell you if that dress was a bad choice.

So if you're a mom, Thank You. You don't hear it enough. And if you're a daughter, thanks for putting up with your mom. She's only crazy because you made her that way.