how DOES she do it?

my new schedule is 8am to 5pm. (whatever happened to workin' 9 to 5, dolly?) i really like getting off work at 5pm; it makes it feel like there is so much more time in the day. HOWEVER, on monday i followed up my work day with a trip to target for some household essentials and then stopped at trader joe's to do my weekly grocery shopping. i got home shortly before 8pm and barely had the energy to put all the crap i bought away. yesterday i went to a yoga class at 5:45pm and got home at, again, shortly before 8pm. in both instances i still had to make dinner, do some laundry... and i can't even begin to think about the general mess that moving has leftover.

on the verge of a nervous, tearful breakdown on both days, i thought to myself, "how do working mom's cope?" i can't imagine spending 9 hours in the office and then coming home to a house full of people who need you to attend to all of their basic needs in addition to all the general housework.

i don't know if i have this old-fashioned view of how duties are split up in the family, but i'll just say that i've yet to meet a guy who feels the same sort of urgency to get things together that i do. furthermore, me feeling right now is that since i am grossly outearned by my partner and, therefore, afforded a lifestyle that i wouldn't have been able to achieve on my own at this point in life, i need to contribute something extra to our "family." the only thing i can really do is handle the shopping, cook and attempt to clean (i'm extremely inept at this). a problem arises, however, when we are equally exhausted at the end of the day, and i'm the one who still has stuff to do.

luckily, we don't have any kids right now. so, if i want to blow off any chores or skip cooking, i totally can. but once you have kids, blowing them off isn't an option. you need to be present and accounted for at all times.

looking back, i truly don't understand how my mom did it. a single, working mother who managed to always keep the house clean, cooked dinner every night, made lunches everyday... and i never once had the impression that she was too tired or didn't want to do it. i'm sure there's something about parenthood that helps you push through your own exhaustion to provide for those who need you that i simply haven't experienced yet, but for now... i don't know how the proverbial she does it.