Parent, Interrupted

Have you ever sworn you were still dreaming when you were awake?  Or binged ate junk food after the children went to bed?  Have you ever cried randomly?  Have you ever lied about your child’s age to get free admission?  Maybe I was a little crazy.  Maybe it was the wine.   Or maybe I was just a parent…interrupted. 

We’re all a little crazy 

The truth about parenting is that if you don’t feel crazy, you’re probably not doing it right.  With this in mind, I don’t know if you have to be crazy to be a good parent or rather being a good parent makes you crazy.  Crazy and parenting go together like peanut butter and jelly. 

I had always wanted to be a father, everyone who grew up with me knew this.  All the time I would joke with my friends about being my surrogate mother, or having twins and letting me adopt one.  Never did I expect that one evening my closest of friends would come to me and say I’m pregnant.  Twenty-four years old and planning for a child.

My three-month paternity leave was going to be amazing.  By the end of month two I  felt significantly short of amazed and nothing short of stir crazy, as I talked to the couch and had full blown conversations with inanimate objects.  The highlight of my day became talking the ear off of the mailman (or any other adult that visited). Let’s be honest, what other adults are going to visit besides your mother, and we all know that can go either way.

No one told me that I was going to lose the majority of my friends resulting from my new found parent status.   Everybody talks about the wonderful joys of parenting, don’t get me wrong they are amazing.  A warning would have been nice that they will disappear quicker than money from my bank account around the holidays. I’ve gone from cocktails at a bar to beers in the driveway with a baby monitor on my hip.  Instead of checking my phone for missed texts, I am double and triple checking the baby monitor.

Embracing your crazy

The changes that come with the transition of becoming a parent for the first time leaves all of us feeling crazy at moments in our lives.  Worry not if your child is planned or unplanned, adopted or biological no parent is ever fully prepared.  I challenge every mom, dad, grandparent, or anyone involved in a child’s life embrace your crazy. 

“Crazy isn’t being broken, or swallowing a dark secret.  It’s you, or me, amplified.”- Girl, Interrupted.