The right princess

If you go on Facebook, People.com, or really any website any day of the week, you can find article after article about the mommy wars.  If you work out of the home full time, you are selfish.  If you stay at home, you are selfish.  You will find just as many articles damning the whole concept of Mommy Wars, but the fact that we still talk about it constantly proves it's a real thing.  The struggle is real, people.

As a mom who works full time out of the house, I generally feel great about the choices I have made.  They are right for me, they are right for our family, and I can own that decision half whole-heartedly.  I know deep down no one leads a charmed life and neither way is right for everyone, and to be totally honest I would stink as a full time at-homer.

But.

Today is one of those days.  We got a note home from school yesterday, after 5 p.m., saying the 3rd graders are putting on a play and we are welcome to come watch.  I told Addi I couldn't come - I'm too busy at work this week and with 12 hours notice I just can't make it work.  She said OK, she understood.  This isn't her first rodeo - I've missed tons of things at school already.  Then she asked again.  And again.  This morning, after reiterating that I couldn't come she acted out the entire play for me, doing every character like a little Cybil.

The small economy car size amount of Mommy Guilt grew to the size of a van.  Just like the vans of the other moms who WILL be at the play.  And let me tell you, we have a lot of GOOD Catholic families at our school - so that guilt isn't even mini-van size.  It's full on Catholic guilt, 12-passenger van style.

After I dropped the girls off at school I headed to the office, then did a u-turn and came back home.  I called my boss and let her know I would be working from home in the morning.  I had to go watch the Princess and the Pea.

Addi's face when she saw me walk in her room made me even more certain that I made the right choice.  There were three short skits, complete with costumes (which I didn't even know Addi had taken out of our house), and a few other moms there.  As a bonus, Samantha's class was there to watch too.

Bonus points if you can correctly guess which blond mine is

 

Addi played the "right" princess and did a great job.  Most people find it hard to believe but at school she's really shy and quiet so this was a big deal for her.

 

And for me.  She's definitely the right princess for me.