“Here you go, Mom!” I hear from the backseat. I reach back with my free hand (other hand on the steering wheel), only to realize that I am being handed a piece of chewed gum. Ugh.
“Mom, can you hold this?” my son asks as he hands me his water bottle while we’re trying to get out the door. Never mind that I’m already carrying my briefcase and purse and his brother’s backpack. And I still need to get my coffee mug. “I’ve got it, Buddy” I reply.
On the way home from a long night of dance class. “I did EVERYTHING wrong! I missed my mark, I didn’t spot that turn”…etc., etc….through tears in the backseat. (She didn’t do everything wrong, by the way).
I am holding it all. The gum. The water bottle. The fears.
My coworker walks into the office. She’s carrying her work bag, her purse, her insulated cooler bag, and her pump bag. I ask if she needs help. She declines.
As moms, we carry so much. We carry babies. We hold bags and clothes and leftovers (ew!) and bottles and feelings (all the feelings!). We carry the weight of shaping the hearts and minds we’ve been entrusted with. In sub-Sahran Africa, there are an estimated 13.54 million women who are responsible for water collection trips. In India, women can take up to six trips a day to gather and transport water. These walks in rural regions can average ten miles a day carrying up to 15 liters per trip, to provide an essential resource to their families.
It can all feel overwhelming, can’t it? Like there aren’t enough hands to hold it all.
I don’t have extra hands to offer, but I do have some words of encouragement: Carry on, Momma!
Even if it is heavy, carry on! If you need help, ask a friend or a neighbor or a family member – or me! The work you are doing matters. The load you are carrying is important. It is necessary. It is saving little lives. It is stabilizing our families. It is shaping the world.
