I will beat you pool!

Like many moms I know, I resist admitting that I am struggling or need help with my life as Mommy. My husband travels quite a bit for work and has been gone 2 weeks now, and life as a single mom has been a challenge with a toddler in the throws of "terrible twos" and a teething 5 month old. I have held it together for the most part, mostly by allowing the house to fall to shambles, living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and having a nightly glass of some sort of alcohol after the kids go to bed. Last night, however, I had reached my limit with patience and sanity and let it all out in a battle with the pool.

With a weather forecast of 95 degrees, I rushed out to buy a blow-up pool for the kids to enjoy yesterday afternoon. It's a big one -- comfortably fits 4 adults, so I needed to borrow Grandpa's air compressor to blow it up and fill it with water for an hour. After all of this, plus slathering two kids with sunscreen and getting them both in "swim diapers", we enjoyed a cool hour in our new pool. However, I realized after they were in bed last night that I needed to drain the pool and bring it in to the garage before the impending thunderstorm. Hmmmm..... how to tackle this project....

I pressed down on one side to drain some water, but this only allowed a small amount of water out. After several attempts at this, I resorted to locating my largest pot (hey -- might as well use it for something since it collects dust in my cabinet!) to scoop the water out. This continued for about 30 minutes until I THOUGHT enough water was drained to allow me to lift and flip the pool. Try to picture the sight.... Mommy outside all alone lifting one side, only to have the other sides fold in.... lift another side -- repeat effect. Also, periodically Mommy loses her balance in the fight and falls on the pool. With each attempt Mommy's language becomes progressively more profane and her clothes become progressively wetter and muddier. FINALLY after 45 minutes of battling our new blow-up pool, the darn thing flipped over, drained, and I was able to drag it into the garage. I wiped the hair out of my face, changed into dry, clean clothes, and sat down to a Corona.

I realized about 25 minutes into this battle as I was shouting words I hoped my kids did not hear that this fight was necessary for me to win -- I would prevail. I would beat the pool. Mommy can do this. Mommy can handle being a single mom while Daddy is out of town for weeks. She can do ALL the cooking, cleaning, diaper changing, disciplining, gas-getting, yard maintaining, oil-changing, bill paying, hugging, teaching, band-aiding, and --- pool setup and clean-up! And she will, damn it, because she is Mom.