First off, I wanted to say how delighted
and surprised I have been at how many of you lovely lot have made so many
positive comments about one of my posts a few weeks back – The Life of a
Housewife. Whilst I am a bit of an open
book and will discuss anything with anyone, however inappropriate, it was a bit
of a leap of faith to talk about something so personal on such an open forum,
so thank you.
In the spirit of this, I thought this week
I would make a similar leap and continue my theme on “The Life of a Housewife”
by discussing a pretty taboo subject: loneliness.
Now when I think of the term loneliness,
the first image that pops into my mind is that of a little old man living on
his own who perhaps has lost his literal life partner. You do not often think of a busy mum running
around after her single minded toddler trying to shove a top over her head and
wipe the snot from her nose, but I’m going to break the mold and say it…being a
mum can be pretty lonely at times.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a very lucky
lady. I have a genuinely amazing husband
whom I adore and who adores me right back, a wonderful family, and I have
always been surrounded by some pretty magnificent mates. To the outside world I have it all, and as
one friend once said, I’m living the life of riley! But here is the reality…
despite very rarely being on my own, sometimes life as a mum is lonely and I
don’t think I’m the only one that feels this way. A very close friend of mine who has a 10
month old recently told me that she sometimes goes as long as 48 hours without
speaking to another adult due to her husbands work schedule, and I’m sure she’s
not the only one.
When I first had Coco I was extremely
fortunate to meet a warm and trustworthy group of girlfriends through our NCT
class. As one by one our babies were
born we would hit the mean streets for coffee mornings and we would discuss at
length every detail of being a mum and our new offspring. But just as our babies were born, one by one
the mums returned to work and before I knew it there were whole weeks to fill
and a small person to entertain on my tod.
Now, to some mums out there reading this it
might sound like I’m having a good old moan (which to be honest I do enjoy!),
but let me set the record straight. My
husband and I have made the conscious decision for me to stay at home and take
care of Coco and our next bundle (set to arrive soon!), and despite desperately
missing work and the “other side of me” I am glad to have this precious time
with my children whilst they’re tiny.
However, like most things in life, this isn’t black and white, and whilst
I will always be grateful, it won’t stop me counting down the minutes each
evening waiting for my other half to come home.
We’re all quick to look at peoples’ lives and
make assumptions (and I’m one of the worst!) but perhaps next time you see a
mum sitting on her own with her child having a coffee and probably a much
needed piece of cake, maybe say hi. I’m
sure she’d appreciate it.
It’d be great to get your thoughts on this
article so please do comment below.
Gemma x
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