This is about yesterday.

There is moral to this story at the end.

Yesterday, a friend stopped by to visit and she gave me 45 minutes of her time to let me vent.  Then, she told me I was her hero.

It was nice to be able to sit down and talk with another mother and have them "get you".  As in, you two have been through the same types of things with your children, you feel the same way about yourselves as a mother, and you share the same feelings about your personal selves.

I've just been having a hard time lately.  I have felt defeated most days at the end of the day and it is hard to lay there and not cry yourself to sleep.  There are only a handful of people I can actually talk to about motherhood and I have felt rather isolated lately.  It was nice to hear that I was, in fact, "normal" and that all of these feelings I am having are valid and very real.

Then, she said something that made me cry.  She told me that because I am able to stay at home with my daughter and not go absolutely insane, that I am her hero.  She said she couldn't fathom what it must take to do that after doing so much in my life before L.

I did have a very long stretch of life that was solely me.  I came and went as I pleased, I had college, I had jobs, I had E.  My life was very busy.  It isn't so much right now and that major life change was hard.  It is still hard.  I manage the best way I know how.

My friend took me by surprise.  I surely don't feel like a hero, let alone to another mother.  I was flattered.  Then, when I get that way, I usually cry.  I felt better after our conversation and the rest of the day was a snap.

Moral of the story:  Take time to listen to others.  It isn't hard to see someone in distress if you just look very carefully and open yourself up.  You never know what you could be doing for the person sitting across from you.