My Two Faces

I have two faces, two identities, two very different images that I have to portray and I sometimes get them confused and put on the wrong face at the wrong time. At work I am a loan officer, someone that tends to people's financial matters with the utmost confidentiality and care. I am expected to be confident, smart, sure of my advice and decisions and very rarely make mistakes. I shake hands with professionals and teach others how to start out on their financial paths the right way. I review things like credit reports and loan documents and use big words like creditor, annual percentage yield, and consumer rate index. In short, I am expected to know what I am doing at all times and know almost any answer that is thrown my way. I dress professionally in stiletto heels and fitted blouses. I work very hard to play the part of a "career" woman.
My other face is my "mom" face. I am Tylie and Mason's mom. When I am with them I morph from career woman into a diaper changing, lullaby singing, gold fish playing, tear wiping mom. My soft side comes out and I am allowed to make mistakes. Tylie doesn't question me when I am not dressed by noon and Mason could not care less if the floor is mopped or the dishes neatly put away in the cupboards. This is definitely my favorite side because I get to be playful, careless, and child like. Like I stated before, I often get these faces mixed up and it can present very awkward situations for me.
Today I was at Smiths shopping in their big "case lot" sale. I had Mason in his car seat on top of the cart, Tylie trying to thrown anything colorful into the cart, and me scouring the cases perfect for filling my food storage. Somehow I slipped into my "career" woman and I became over zealous in picking up the heavy cases of food. I clumsily dropped an entire case of chicken broth and it split open (of course!) sending 24 cans everywhere! I am totally embarrassed at this point and start frantically picking up the cans hoping that I can get them all before anyone notices. As I order Tylie to grab as many cans as possible, this guy in a business suit walks over to me and begins to gather the cans with me. My natural "career woman" instinct wanted to immediately assure this man that I was fine and had everything under control but then I took one look at my situation and decided to graciously thank him and accept any help he was willing to give. I was a mom at that moment with 2 children just trying to get some groceries for my family and I had made a mistake in trying to do too much. I don't know that man but I thanked him about 10 times because he taught me a big lesson today. It is OK to accept help and not be perfect all the time. It is OK for my house to be out of order and for me to take off to the park for the afternoon with my kids. It is OK for me to pay a bill a few days late if it means reading a CS Lewis book with Jake at night instead of being on the computer. I love getting these little reality checks and re prioritizing my life. So, as long as my co-workers can stand my endless chatter about my adorable children and as long as my friends are willing to accept a few dishes in the sink when they come over, I will continue to get my two faces mixed up and enjoy every minute of it!


Playing "princess" go fish with Ty and Mia. The only thing I can say is I got my butt kicked my 2 three-year olds.


Tylie crawled into Mason's bed when he woke up from his nap and was singing him songs. Does it get any better than this?