Mental Health Monday

I used to be cool. Wait, why are you laughing? I did!

OK, OK, maybe it was just that I used to be cooler than I am now. Whatever.

Regardless, I used to know how to do a mental health day right.

Back in the day, a mental health day included some combination of having my nails done, getting a facial, having a massage, getting drinks with friends, and having lunch out.

Now though? Now a mental health day includes sleeping. That's about it. Oh and vacuuming the floor. And a shower.

The crazy part? I enjoy a mental health day now way more than I ever used to. Which probably gives some insight into my current state of mental health.

Or more accurately, my need of a vacation.

The thing about parenting that everyone tells you about but that is impossible to wrap your head around until you are in the trenches? Parenting is the job with no breaks, ever.

Whereas with a job outside of the home, although you may work crazy long hours, there's always that time when you shut down your computer, leave your office and go home. You may be going home to a whole different kind of chaos, but it IS different.

As a stay at home parent, you spend all day with these little people who tweak your nerves with the skill of a championship banjo player, and then you spend all night with them. 24 x 7.

There are no bitching sessions around the coffee machine, no making thousands of copies of personal documents to "stick it to the man", and no long hours of Internet surfing to escape the tedium.

There are THOUSANDS of diapers, hours of tantrums, and a Masters Degree that goes completely unused. Completely.

For some odd reason, I find parenting WAY more exhausting than I ever found working. And I was your classic corporate overachiever who spent crazy hours at the office.

I'm not saying I don't love my kids like crazy, they are the lights of my life, manic little mayhem makers that they are.

What I am saying is that distance makes the heart grow fonder and I love every second of "fondness development" I get.

Because as much as I love them, I am pretty certain they are colluding to drive me completely insane, and the photographic evidence below shows a meeting of the minds...