From the moment you see your first positive pregnancy test, you start to expect certain things about motherhood. Life is going to change — you know that. You expect the diapers and the long sleepless nights, the neverending dirty laundry and the temper tantrums.
Where I was wrong is that I expected I’d become a “mom.” I am my daughter’s mother, but I didn’t magically become what I thought a real mom should be. Real moms cook homemade meals, listen to tasteful music, act gracefully, and know how to keep up a home. I guess I expected to suddenly become my mother. But after giving birth, I still ordered delivery pizza way too often, still listened to explicit rap, and still had no idea how to clean a bathtub. Something was wrong: The magic fairy that made new moms into proper moms had missed me!
In some ways, I am sorry my daughter won’t get the same kind of clean, wholesome home I grew up in. But once I accepted that I could be a mom and remain myself at the same time, I grew proud to be a weird mom raising a weird daughter, quirks and all.
Read GeekMom for a secret list of quirks we choose to embrace with our families, including a message on a cake with a secret code.
