Tired

TIRED

I'm tired. I know, I know, you are all tired too. We can all be tired together. Tired seems to be this inevitable part about parenting. This sort of club forms around being a tired parent. It's different than the I'm-in-college-and-stayed-up-all-night-reading-and/or-partying-and/or-making-out-with-my-boyfriend tired. It's a tired that's wrapped in sacrifice and filled with love. Or resentment. Whatever. Anyway, I'm tired and on days I'm tired I find that it is truly difficult to be funny. Or to find the funny in any given situation. Everything just turns into this giant gray ball of unfunny. The checkout guy at the store is not entertaining in his hipster snobbishness. He's just a jerk. My child is not adorably clamoring for my attention. She's just the kid that is in between me and my coffee. My shoes don't fit. The car won't start. All of these things seem to happen when I'm tired and my response is to want to crawl back into bed and fall into a deep and lovely sleep that no one dare wake me from. (In this story I'm sleeping beauty, but I'm also the dragon if you attempt to wake me up.) However, I don't get to sleep. In all likelihood neither do you. Do you know who gets to sleep? Our kids. And Daniel Tiger's Mom. Yup, Mrs. Tiger is never, ever, out of energy. She's like June Cleaver on steroids. This woman just had a baby (for those of you that are watching the saga unfold) and she is still humming sweet little songs, making equal amounts of time for each child, and she always, always, has what I like to call P.P.R. That's Perfect Parenting Response. She is always kind, always calm, and always knows just what to say. If you really want to feel bad about your parenting skills, just watch one episode, and you'll be ready to throw in the towel. I try to take comfort in the fact that cartoon characters don't actually need sleep, and therefore, I'm comparing myself to a fictional tiger that will never have bags under her eyes or unfolded laundry. But today the only thing I've got going is my ability to mock Mrs. Tiger and the hope that you will join me in deeply resenting perfectly nice cartoon characters simply because it makes me feel better.