It’s been my long cherished motherhood dream. A good sized drawer to hold all those fancy stuff that can turn you into the queen of craft in minutes, making short work of last minute projects that involve felt, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, glitter and anything slightly more complicated and hard to find than colourful markers.
At this point the dream or rather the drawer, expands into a cupboard which also holds gifts for various genders and ages between two to ten, bought at half price during off -season sales.
This is precisely the moment that I give myself a jolt and vow to get better organised; to stop being the epitome of the Last Minute Mother. To stop being the mom buying gifts in a rush at the store as I zip the six year old to yet another birthday party and turning the hideous floral wrapping paper inside out to wrap the presents in silvery shimmer because I do not have spare wrapping paper.
And then there are the clothes and the wardrobe that contains them. It’s like a small boy, that wardrobe, disorganising itself and creating a mess, right after you have cleaned it up. I have friends (okay, one or two maybe) who neatly wash, iron and line up the kid’s clothes in labeled hangers saying Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…for the entire week to save them any confusion in the early morning rush.
In the unbelievable days (or should I say era) when I was far away from being a mother, I admired their wonderful idea and thought perhaps it was something all mothers did naturally. Well obviously not all mothers are born organised. Some like me have to still organise the part called motherhood into their lives because there’s just so much work involved.
I also set reminders for medicines, holiday homework and projects. I tried not to, thinking that willpower and guilt would drive my brain cells to remember but they didn’t and this was the best way. Since I can be quite a deadline dodger, I tend to be stern with myself and the reminders go somewhat like ‘School starts on 2nd Jan. Finish homework by 28th Dec max!’.
I’m just lying in wait for the time not so far into the future when I have to pack off two instead of one. Quite sure that instead of beeping with messages or calls, my phone would beep with constant reminders!