Not as easy as solving for "x"

Though I didn’t particularly like math when I was in high school, I always did well. Maybe it was because I appreciated that math was so cut and dry (at least algebra was). Given an equation, we used a formula to solve for x and y and…voila, we were done!

Motherhood is the exact opposite. Every time you think you have the formula figured out, it changes. And there aren’t just two variables in each equation—there might be five, or even 10 or 20. Every child is different, so a formula that works for one family might not work for the other. High school math is predictable, while children are most certainly not.

I was bemoaning this fact earlier this week at a Mothers & More event at Wirth Park Aquatic Center. It was an incredibly hot morning, and I was meeting other friends at the pool in addition to the ladies from Mothers & More (I hadn’t RSVP’d, so I planned on just meeting up with the M&M group when I saw them). My plan was simple: I would bounce seamlessly from mom to mom, chatting while my almost-2-year-old Tyler played happily in the pool.

Except. Tyler kept climbing up the slide, then losing his nerve, insisting I slide down with him every single time. My friend Ashley was breastfeeding her 4-month-old, so I was trying to watch both Tyler and her 2-year-old. Every time I tried to talk to another mom, Tyler would head in the opposite direction and, fearing a toddler underwater catastrophe, I had to cut my conversation short.

I didn’t get to say more than a few sentences to most of the Mothers & More moms at the pool. I didn’t even cross paths with a couple of them (they’re probably reading this and wondering where I was!).

My formula for a perfect, social morning at the pool had backfired. Although I left after an hour and a half, I was tired beyond belief. Chasing a toddler (or two) around does not lend itself to social interaction!

But, I guess that’s what happens. The great part about Mothers & More is that the other moms completely understand when you have to walk away in the middle of a sentence to remove your child from imminent danger or a violent altercation (“Don’t hit that boy on the head with a shovel, sweetie!”) And even when the job of being a mom keeps you too busy to say much, it’s still nice to head to a park or pool knowing you can grab even a few minutes of adult conversation.

--Beth