Hot Dogs for Dinner
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 4:56 PM
Our little guy is sick. We’re currently on day six of a respiratory illness that I’m suspicious is RSV. While I’m glad not to be in the hospital this time, we still ended up in urgent care this past weekend, where Blaise was diagnosed with croup and an ear infection.
He’s running an on-and-off fever and is not his usual energetic self, which means we’re having some slow days around here. Today Blaise woke up grumpy from his morning nap and refused to get off my lap for more than an hour afterward, clinging to my neck and fussing every time I tried to put him down. As you can imagine, this is impeding my ability to get stuff done around here.
So tonight we are having hot dogs for dinner.
Not hot dogs on the grill, with side dishes of corn on the cob or baked beans or potato salad, like we usually do for summer barbecues. Nope. This is just straight up hot dogs, plain, heated in the toaster oven or possibly (if I’m feeling ambitious) in a pan on the stove.
I will provide ketchup and mustard, of course, since that only involves grabbing some bottles out of the fridge. I may also throw a bag of baby carrots on the table, in a nod to balancing the meal. But I’m making no promises.
There’s a well-known phenomenon on the Internet of moms being intimidated by the apparent perfection of other moms. It’s easy, when you’re writing a blog or filling out a Facebook page, to share only the happy anecdotes and the pretty pictures and the virtuous choices from your life. I know this, because I’m as guilty of it as anyone. It’s natural to want to make ourselves look good.
What I don’t want, though, is for any mom ever to look at my life and feel intimidated, like her best isn’t good enough. Her best is absolutely good enough. As is mine.
So that’s why I’m sharing right now: hot dogs for dinner. That’s what my family is having. It could just as easily be take-out sandwiches. It could just as easily be fast food. Any of those things would be fine, today, for my family. We’re being fed. It’s fine.
When you’ve had a tough day, where do you cut corners?
(Good for you!)
Image credit: Mike Johnson - TheBusyBrain.com
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