To most people, I think, a No Shoes Day would sound like a very good thing. In fact, when I was a young working woman, I suspect a No Shoes Day would have meant something like a carefree Saturday, a lazy day off from work to relax, recover, spend time with my husband. When I was a student, a No Shoes Day was probably a day spent sleeping in to some ridiculous early afternoon hour and then accomplishing nothing before heading back to bed at night. And when I'm a retired person (do moms get to retire?), I think a No Shoes Day will probably be a pretty good day, too.
But as a stay-at-home-mom, a No Shoes Day is a very bad day indeed.
Because, of course, if you haven't worn shoes all day, that means you haven't left the house. And for my type-A firstborn and me, a day without leaving the house is a bad, bad day.
Most every stay-at-home mom, especially those with more than one child, can relate to such a bad No Shoes Day. Competing nap schedules conspire to prevent even the shortest outing. Rain keeps you from venturing out into the backyard. None of your kids' friends (and, let's face it, your friends) are available to come over to play. Every toy your children own is scattered all over the house. You've read Dr. Seuss ad infinitum; you've permitted as much TV/video watching as is reasonably safe for small brains (and maybe a little bit more); you've served breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, pre-dinner snack, and endless sippy cups; you've colored, glued, cut, and folded; you've played Go Fish, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Hi-Ho Cherry-O enough to turn your stomach...and it's not even dinnertime yet, much less time for Daddy to get home from work.
Yes, a No Shoes Day is a very bad day around here.
And there are so many places you could be going, out there in the great Beyond: museums, parks, zoos, pools, friends' houses...not to mention Target! (Yes, if you go to Target--or even Kroger--after 7 or 8 pm, you might find it an interesting sociological study to count the percentage of customers who are clearly escaped stay-at-home moms. Just check the shoes they're proudly wearing: likely very clean and not at all worn.)
I was unable to end our most recent No Shoes Day without going somewhere. But where? I didn't need groceries, had plenty of diapers (so no excuse to go to Target--shoot!)...stamps. We definitely needed stamps. Whew. I love the post office at night...
3 comments:
I love you my friend - had I been there we could have had a no shoes day together....someday.
In my mind, "no shoes day" means the complete opposite. It means that it's perfect weather for being outside with the boys, wiggling our toes in the grass...oh, wait, that's in the mountains. Around here, we've had an awful lot of the bad kind of no shoes day, where it is too hot to go out in in our dry, prickly excuse for a back yard. I'm with you.
Brilliant. Love this post!
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