Small Town Soup
by Karrie McAllister
Global issues, domestic questions, and singing dogs?
Tonight I had the pleasure of sneaking out. No kids, no husband. I even took the extra crayons and granola bar out of my purse.
It was just me – and my brain.
For the first time in a long time, I forgot about the last six years of being a full-time parent, and, as if I’d hit the backspace key a thousand times, found myself sitting through a lecture at my alma mater.
Upon arriving, I saw an old friend that I knew from those backspaced days. She knew me as a student and a professional, not as the parent I’ve become, and within our short conversation she told me that she enjoyed reading my column and said that I’ve gotten rather “domestic.”
Domestic? I guess so. I am a stay-at-home-mom. It’s my job. If I wasn’t domestic, I’d be failing miserably and probably need to get fired.
But still, I was taken aback a little by her comment, wondering if my choice to become domestic was the wrong one. How much did I give up by making the choice to stay at home, and where would I be if I didn’t? And would I feel better about myself and my lack of domesticity?
I thought about it until the lecture began, because once it started I was dazed with joy, even though the topic of the night was global warming.
There was a laser pointer and graphs and chemistry and I could feel the little neurons firing off in a part of my brain that had probably thought it was long forgotten. And for someone who spends a good portion of her day coloring with fat markers and tying tiny shoes, well, I’ll just say it felt good to feel smart. Even if it was for only an hour or so.
I left to pick up my children from the babysitter, and buckling them back into their car seats those questions of domestication set back in.
Driving and deep in thought, my five-year old piped up, “What did you learn about tonight, Mommy?”
And being the person who never really knows how to keep it simple, gave her the full rundown of global warming, ice caps, fossil fuels, emissions, and photosynthesis.
It was a giant gob of rambling until I got to the part about sea level changes, when I explained how the beach as she knows it might disappear.
The car got silent. I could almost hear her little brain neurons firing off, thinking about how this was a very bad thing and we needed to do something about it.
She then started asking me questions, about how we can help do our part and save the beach, and out of complete scientific gobbledygook came real-life, self-attained knowledge.
Still driving along, the car again got quiet just long enough for me to remember that question I had about being domestic. Sure, my house skills are improving everyday, and although I’ll never be a Martha, I could definitely hang with her cronies.
But for being able to explain the consequences of carbon dioxide levels to a preschooler? I think that takes a real professional.
As I basked in my pride, my three-year old chimed in.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if the ocean was really deep and then the dogs all went swimming and they sang sailor songs?”
We laughed and sang our favorite sailor song as we arrived home.
What a sweet snap back into my little domestic and blissful reality.
Karrie McAllister, Webmaster and Regular Columnist, has dabbled in everything from coal mining to culinary classes. She and her family live in Northeast Ohio where conversations in the grocery store and pierogis are as common as Amish buggies. Her local column, Small Town Soup, appears in local newspapers and her writing has appeared on numerous web sites. She is slowly discovering the benefits of being a stay at home mom, including mid-afternoon naps, staying in pajamas until noon, as many leftover PBJ sandwich crusts as she wants, and being constantly entertained by her two nutty children. Read more of Karrie at her website, www.KarrieMcAllister.com.
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