I've lost my mind

While staying at home to take care of my family is only one aspect of my life, sometimes it can overwhelm the rest. It’s not as if my sole purpose in life is to stay at home seven days a week cooking, washing, playing, reading, refereeing, lecturing, and listening to kids whine, although it does seem to take more than a fair share of my effort. Sometimes the monotony of it all is often enough to make me lose my mind, or wish I could.

And trying to get kids settled back in, from the craziness of the holidays can really drive a parent mad. From hoarding toys and screaming, “Mine!” to the incessant whine of a tattling toddler-if I could find a way to do it with a smile, I’d try. While that’s not always possible, I have thought more than once that it would be nice during those crazy moments of motherhood to have a way to connect to others who have experienced the same nightmarish-day as I.

For many, finding an empathetic outlet is as simple as turning on the radio or plugging in a favorite CD. There’s always a song about falling in love-and falling back out. Of cheatin’, drinkin’, and fightin’, or of breaking up and making up. But where are the songs about whining, screaming kids and diaper-whipping mamas who are near their breaking point on a daily basis? I’ve yet to hear one. That got me thinking…why not write my own?

While I don’t expect to hear my versions of our timeless classics when I turn on my car radio, it sure was therapeutic to create. Taken from the late Johnny Cash, this is what I call the mommy-version of "I Walk the Line."

I keep a close watch on these kids of mine.
My priorities I’ve had to realign.
There are days from this employment I’d resign.
Because they whine, I’ve lost my mind.

I find it very, very easy to get blue.
My kids are eating tubes of clear epoxy glue.
I’ve got to find a mental home to check into.
Because they whine, I’ve lost my mind.

Just as sure as one is wrong and one is right.
That word “mine” will certainly a rage incite.
To every toy each thinks he has exclusive rights.
Because they whine, I’ve lost my mind.

I’ve got a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde.
Brotherly love they have both kindly set aside.
Their sibling rivalry is strictly bona fide.
Because they whine, I’ve lost my mind.

Nevermore does my husband wine and dine.
My bedroom smells just like a sulfur mine.
My persona I have had to redefine.
Because they whine, I’ve lost my mind.

And that’s All in a day’s work!