I am The Mundame of House Newton, first of my name, the project manager, time keeper, chef, maid, coach, ref, medic, teacher, Uber driver, mother of dragons, wife, cancer survivor, and badass.
Some people have enough insight and the self-reflection capabilities to allow them to see life in an enlightened way. Others need a little nudge from difficult circumstances in life in order to start to make sense of things. And then there’s a group of hard-working, list-making, everyday-I’m-hustling human bots that are really quite stubborn and just plow through life, one menial task at a time, without stopping to understand what the point of living is. I’m a member of that club, and it took death to bitch-slap me in the face, shake me up, and say, “Hey, I got my eye on you. Do life better.”
I almost died last year just a few days after I turned 39, not really the way I anticipated celebrating the last year of my 30’s. I was just living my normal, rather plain life as a stay-at-home mom of 2 kids, a wife of a pretty dreamy guy, and working occasionally on the weekends as a physical therapist. That sounds decent on paper. But in real life, if you were a fly on the wall, you’d see a frantic woman trying to get her kids into any and every activity, grocery shopping in 30 minutes or less because she arbitrarily chose to time herself, fixing homemade meals because it’s cheaper and healthier for the family, cleaning the house, attempting and failing at gardening and yard work, and working out (because if you’re going to wear yoga pants all day, you better look remotely close to being in shape or everyone will know you’re a fraud). So did I almost die of fatigue and burnout? No, but there definitely were days that I felt like giving up. Then I’d go to bed, forget about the busy day, and do it all again the next day. It’s the name of the game for every parent, whether you are working or staying at home, and it often just sucks.
It was actually leukemia that nearly took me (another story for another day), and it was a challenging year, to say the least. Fast-forward to today. The treatment was successful, I’m obviously still alive, and I am cured! I made it to 40 years old with a fresh perspective. I had a lot of alone time during all of my hospitalizations, time to reflect, time to miss the very simple things of my life, time to slow down and reset. I never thought in a million years I’d miss the mundane everyday tasks, like doing dishes, folding laundry, driving the kids to their activities, going to Costco, yelling at, I mean hugging, my kids and husband. From afar, I could see my family and home changing and struggling without me, just trying to stay afloat in my absence. I realized the mundane matters. It’s repetitive, often boring, totally frustrating, but it fuels my family’s engine and gives me purpose.
It only took a near-death experience to knock a little sense in me. I appreciate life’s little things a little more. But as I stated above, I tend to get into human bot mode, and sometimes I find myself in the fast lane again, chugging along hastily and not stopping to appreciate some of the beauty in the details. This is my chance to stop and reflect, to write about some experiences, and maybe on a good day, learn something. In the quiet of healing, I found my voice, and it’s just as annoying as my husband says it is. But I’m sharing it with you, and I think it might sound familiar.
My Recent Posts
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Losing Bill
I was fortunate at the age of 29 to have three sets of parents: my parents, my husband’s mom and stepdad, and his dad and stepmom. While coordinating and managing holidays and special events was sometimes complicated, it was still a blessing. For my kids, having 6 grandparents was absolutely awesome; never a shortage of… Read more
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Youth Sports
Have you ever had that friend who convinces you to get a pixie cut because it will look so cute with your round face, or tells you that spandex shorts are okay to wear even if you have major camel toe? Have you ever been in a twisted relationship where it feels good to be… Read more
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Trip of a Lifetime
Growing up, if I saw a bunch of Balikbayan boxes, rolls of packaging tape and rope, black sharpies at the ready, cartons of cigarettes, packets of instant ramen, and bags of chocolate candies and gum in my living room, it could only mean one thing…we were going to the Philippines! My parents would take our… Read more
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Sleepaway Camp
As a kid, a week long overnight kid camp was nothing more than what scary movies were based on. I remember an actual 80’s horror movie entitled , “Sleepaway Camp,” which pretty much was God’s and the Universe’s way of telling me to not even try it. And besides, it wasn’t even an option for… Read more
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The Mundame 