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Super Woman
By Donna M Shelton   
Rated "G" by the Author.
Last edited: Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I am woman.

Being a woman, a wife, or a mother has never been easy. Throughout the centuries women have come face to face with tribulations and persecution. Even in today’s fast paced world, women strive to keep their families together and make tough decisions about being a stay at home mom or a working mother, or even start up a business to work out of home so she can still be with her family. Women are self-sacrificing individuals that deserve respect and recognition.

I am a woman, a wife, a mother, a writer, and an active member in my community. Being a woman can be challenging, being a wife requires teamwork, being the mother of two active children can be trying, while being a writer is very time consuming, and being an active member in my community has it’s benefits.

Over all, being all these things can be very rewarding as a person can only reap as they have sown. As a woman I face the every days challenges and expectations that are both required and expected of me.

I must maintain an acceptable appearance and find the time to tend to those little needs that keep me sane between all those trials and triumphs of life. I am Super Woman, minus the scantily clad outfit and outdated boots. But the whip may come in handy.

As a wife, I am half of a team, struggling to raise a family, pay bills and keep the mortgage paid. My teammate is my husband, who works all the over time he can get his hands on at a company he hates with a passion. He has worked for this company for almost ten years, is constantly changing shifts in order to move around and move up in the company he despises to make better pay and maintain a quality of living. My husbands income is our family’s stability to keep our home and all those little luxuries like electric, water, and phone. Not to mention cable and the internet. All of those tiresome hours also allow our family to go out once a week for dinner at a restaurant that I’m pretty sure can’t wait for us to leave.

As a mother, I love my children dearly and would sacrifice anything to give them the home life and childhood they deserve. I struggle to give them both equal attention, keep them well fed and cleanly clothed. I keep them healthy and make all of their doctor and dental appointments as they should have them. I have always served my children their meals first, despite how my belly is grumbling from not eating all day. As a woman, a wife, and a mother, I quietly reminisce when I was single. Although I am very fond of those single years and sometimes miss them dearly, I wouldn’t trade what I have now for anything in this world.

As a writer, I need to make the time to write between household chores, running errands, school activities, community obligations and sleep. As a writer I need time to concentrate in order to be able to get the job done right the first time and have it in before the deadline. The best times to write are in the morning before my children wake up, while one is in pre-school and the other is occupied, during those late afternoon naps that are now becoming extinct, and after they go to bed at night.

Making the time to write mainly around my children’s sleeping hours makes writing less distracting although it also makes less sleep for me. My inability to sleep often contributes to my lack of concentration and therefore being in a zombie-like state all day. But what’s a writer to do? A writer is only a writer when a writer writes. Right? Only when a writer writes can she get published and sometimes even paid.

As an active member in my community, I enjoy being a block captain and being apart of a wonderful and caring neighborhood association of members who are dedicated to making our
neighborhoods safe. I am one in a network of many foster homes, helping out homeless animals. I separate my garbage and recycle, and I make donations of clothes and other items to area shelters.

As I write this my husband is at work, my children are in the bathtub recreating a tsunami, while dinner is boiling and possibly burning on the stove. Being Super Woman doesn’t mean life is perfect or exactly the way it should be, it’s a constant uphill battle with the hopes of reaping the reward of raising a strong and successful family. And to hopefully come out in the end with all my hair, a few laugh lines to distract the attention away from deep crows feet, a rewarding retirement and a quick and painless menopause.