Back when I first became a mother in 1994 (wow) I was a 100% stay at home Mom. I was living in the St. Louis area back then and after being a busy wife and teacher up to that point, it was an adjustment to be at home all day alone with an infant, especially in a new town since we moved from California when my daughter was 2 weeks old. There was always something to do, taking care of the baby, cooking, cleaning, shopping, talking on the phone, watching soaps…

As I became more social in my new role and my new home, life got busier. I found there were many ‘indoor playgrounds’ and mommy playgroups, and I got involved in La Leche League. When we moved to Florida a couple years later, I found groups there as well and despite being a “stay at home mom” I really wasn’t home much because I was involved in many things. I helped start a playgroup, became a LLL group leader, had another child, and in 1998 I started my Story Time Felts business. Having 2 little kids and taking them places, meeting new playmates and exposing them to lots of experiences was a lot off fun for all of us.

Among my friends we would talk about how busy we were and how our husbands (my ex especially) didn’t understand why the dishes didn’t get done or why there were toys on the floor when they got home from work. They couldn’t understand how we could be ‘home’ all day long but the place still looked like it did when they left in the morning (or worse!) One day I started making vacuum tracks in the carpet. You know, when there are vacuum tracks in the carpet, someone’s been vacuuming, right? On days when there were vacuum tracks, there was peace in the house when Daddy got home. There was visual evidence that the ‘work’ had gotten done – just enough to satisfy him.

But the truth is, the REAL accomplishments were not in that carpet. They were in the hugs and the “you can do its” and the band-aids and even in the potty chair. They were in the friendships and the personal growth and the blossoming of a young mother who learned the real meaning of priorities. They were in the memories – the playdoh lumps, the marker all over the sofa, the upturned oatmeal bowl, and the trips to the zoo.

Those vacuum tracks didn’t mean a thing. Later as we got older and wiser, it became a joke among the moms. We’d be talking on the phone – or later chatting in IRC on the computer – and now posting on Facebook – and we’d look at the clock and it was a quarter to 5. “Gotta go – time to make vacuum tracks!”

Where in life are you making vacuum tracks? Are you not giving yourself credit for the amazing person you are or that you are becoming? Are you covering up for slacking off and then tricking us into thinking you’re something you’re not? Or maybe you’ve gotten yourself into a situation you really don’t belong in and are keeping up appearances instead of standing up for yourself.  I know for me, it was all of the above! But I have a new life now, a new Mr. and a new home… and I don’t make vacuum tracks any more!

Until next time,
Karen