WTF Kind of Question is That?

My evenings are basically always the same. Hubby comes home from work, I race to the gym and work out, I race back home, make dinner, eat dinner, hubby baths the boys while I clean the kitchen, I nurse the baby, the boys go to bed, we take a deep breath and enjoy a few hours of kid free time.

Exhilarating right?

It's life with kids, there is little time to breath, think or reflect. It is always go, go, go!

Last night I broke the little routine a bit and stopped at the grocery store quickly before hitting the gym. It was a goal oriented shopping trip to pick up some very random loose ends; the idea was to be in and out in 5 minutes. I grabbed ground nutmeg,  baby food, parsley and tortilla shells (I told you it was random) and headed for the shortest line.

I was kinda thrown off because the cashier, a young man who could not have been more than twenty years old, was extra friendly. He looked at my groceries, spotted the baby food and asked if I had a newborn baby at home (remember, I said he was young, young enough not to know that newborns don't eat baby food).

I told him I had a baby who was almost 8 months old so, not really a newborn anymore. He asked if this was my first baby. I said no, my second. He asked if they were boys or girls. I said they are both boys. He asked what their names are. I told him Oskar and Angus. He said they were cool names. I said I hoped they still liked them when they were teenagers.

Up to this point we were having a polite little banter, a welcome change from my normal shopping experience; it was a fluffy and light, adult conversation at the grocery store.

Just as I was about to pay, he looked up at me and asked me if I liked being a mother. I was kinda stunned. I hesitated, I didn't know how to answer. I stammered out: "ummm, well, sometimes".

I immediately knew this was not the light, fluffy, answer that was expected. Both he and the next man in line looked at me strangely and I knew I needed to qualify my answer quickly before I came off as a total psycho.

So I said: "I'm just kidding. I love it. Although there are times when I am like, get me out of here!"

I followed that up with a smile to both of them and got the hell out of there. I hurried back to the car and sat there thinking.

WTF kind of question was that?

Do I like being a mother? Is there really any one, true answer to that?

No there isn't.

My feelings on being a mother change all the time. It depends on the moment, the day, how exhausted or exasperated I am. But, that's not what people want to hear. If they ask me, they want to hear: "I love it, it's the best job in the world!"

Do I love being a mother?

For god sakes, of course I do! Do I love it every minute? Hell no!

Clearly, I can't handle such philosophical questions in the grocery store line-up