The Hot Mom

Matt on his Guy Trip in the Great Smoky Mountains

The Hot Mom

We all know a “Hot Mom”. You know – the mom that everyone thinks looks way younger than the age she is and could pass for a college student?  I know we are not supposed to worry about the outside appearance, but let’s be real – we all want to look our best. Well, I finally achieved “Hot Mom” status.  Unfortunately it was because my A/C quit working in August.  August in Nashville is similar to a picnic in Dubai during the middle of the day. That might not be accurate because all the pictures I have seen of Dubai look like there is a breeze. So, imagine a desert with no breeze. The last weeks of my summer in “Dubai” have not been my best.

My hubby asked permission to go on a guy’s trip – yes I said that correct. No, he does not need permission, but he asked out of love. I said, “Of course, you have a great time. I am excited for you to go!” Then, summer, in all its glory came in full force.  We had the best summer ever, but this momma was tired.  We had done the park, rivers, pools, camping, and grocery store a bazillion times. The heat was now close to apocalypse level, and I noticed that I was a bit drained.  My kids had been with me everyday the entire 9 weeks.  I love them so very much, but honestly, a little time apart never hurt anyone!

The big trip was approaching, and I was still feeling positive.  Then we found out the plane tickets needed to be made for Tuesday, not Wednesday. Ok – what’s one more day, right?  Then, we found out that the trip actually extended until Sunday.  Matt was going to fly to Detroit and help drive an exotic car on a road rally to Atlanta. Super fun!  This was every man’s dream trip.  I was thrilled for him, but maybe secretly a little jealous that I was not the one doing my dream trip.

In my mind, I had always thought we might retreat to my parent’s farm the six days Matt was away.  That is always a good plan – to call in reinforcements when the brigade is feeling a bit weak.  Alas, my parents were not in town during Matt’s trip dates.  For a few minutes I felt like I was back in elementary school and wanted to pitch a tantrum, but my words were more like, “Oh too bad, well you guys have fun.”

No worries.  I will be super mom.  I would finish strong.  So, like any good mom, I made a list and planned each day with fun activities to keep us entertained.  Matt left on Tuesday morning and the A/C started acting funny that afternoon.  By acting funny I mean the house was 77 at 3 pm.  It had been struggling a bit, so I just said a prayer and made sure to close our blinds.  I am sure the neighbors thought we were the most unsocial hermits since we never opened our blinds this summer.  I often imagine they think we are hoarders with lots and lots of cats, but I closed the blinds anyway hoping it would help cool the house by bedtime.  The A/C did work that night.  It cooled off to 75 by 2 am, and it was back to normal by 6 am.  We had so much fun planned that I did not have time to give it much thought.  We had worked in a quick lake day with my parents between their activities, so we met them at Center Hill.  After a day of boating, tubing, and swimming, we traveled home, tired, hot, and happy.

We arrived home from our quick trip knowing that we had to hurry.  We had to be at school in less than one hour to meet my daughter’s new teacher.  The heat wave that hit me when I opened my kitchen door felt almost the same as the heat outside – not a good sign.  Long story short, I called the A/C guys while I spackled my face with make-up (which sweated off at the same rate of application).  I tried to coax my lake hair into a casual up-do.  After struggling, I mused to myself that the messy bun must only work on celebrities using a professional hairdresser.  My kids were also feeling the heat and did not magically get dressed on their own.  This hot mom, who usually tries to speak softer when frustrated, ended up yelling, “Get ready NOW!  We were going to be late to meet this blessed new teacher. And let’s not forget the bag of chocolates we bought her. Never mind– It melted!”

Fast-forward to nighttime. We had met the teacher, and we ate our PTO provided snow cones, all before a massive thunderstorm made us jump in the car to race home.  Seriously, is this a joke?  My children are sticky and sugared up in a house that feels like a sauna.  Just in case you are not familiar with Tennessee weather. If it rains in the summer, approximately one minute later the air becomes as thick and hot as that sauna you sat in on vacation because it looked good in the brochure.  Quickly the temperature in our house rose, and by night it was 82 in the house. The next day, it reached 90 in our bedroom!  I was officially the Hottest Mom on the block! That was about the time that my phone vibrated to notify me of my hubby’s activities of the day.  He was driving a yellow Ferrari thru the Smoky Mountains.  I texted back “hope you are having as much fun as we are” and included the appropriate emojis.

My hubs felt terrible that while he was gone I was dealing with our Chernobyl Catastrophe alone.  He offered to come home early, but I was prideful enough to not be “that wife” who is too wimpy to handle things while the man is gone.  I said, “No save yourself!” and gave him the OK to finish his trip.  I may or may not have been plotting my next adventure with the Girls!

As I write this, I am again cool thanks to our new A/C system. In reflection, I feel I have learned a lot from this experience.

·      I am still that selfish “child” down deep that wants to be comfortable and have my way.

·      When things get hard, the true “me” comes out; she ain’t pretty.

·      It is OK when I get grumpy and flip out, because I can apologize. Asking forgiveness teaches my children to do the same.

·      God’s love and forgiveness is way bigger than me and way bigger than my worst moments.

·      Look for blessings in the problem. These are a few of mine:

I took the kids to the park we passed on our way to pick up an extra fan.  I ran into a friend I had not seen in a year and she totally cheered me up.  We went to see a fun movie that we would not have taken time to go see.  I did not cook or do laundry for 2 days because it was too hot.  WooHoo!

On the first day our A/C unit died, right before we went to the lake, the following Bible Verse Card appeared mysteriously at my spot on our breakfast table.

 “My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of troubles. But when these things happen, you should be very happy. Why? Because you know that these things are testing your faith. And this will give you patience.”  James 1:2-3 ERV

Thanks God!  You tried to warn me.  At first I really failed this test.  I yelled at my kiddos, got irritable and grouchy.  Then, I stopped.  I remembered reading that verse.  I remembered what I had heard about praising God in the problems – how it changes things.  I started praising him, and you know what?  It changed me.  I felt more positive and less short with my kids.  God really cares about our problems.  He cares enough about me to somehow place a Bible verse on my spot at breakfast.  He is a big God who has time for our little problems – even when they involve the Air Conditioner.

With love from Tennessee,

The Hot Mom