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I played hooky today. Although I am 34 and have been grown for more years than I care to re-count, there is still a part of me that feels guilty taking off in the middle of the day and going to see a movie. Not only did I go see a 4:45 pm movie with a girlfriend, but we decided to go all the way with the high school re-enactment and stayed over to see another movie without paying for a second admission.

After a couple of weeks of non-stop work and travel including a 48-hour trip to NY for the the Hip Hop Honors awards, and a client flying town this weekend to shoot a commercial, I was behind in work and really had no business skipping out to see Sex in the City 2, let alone Queen Latifah and Common in Just Wright. Still I’m working on creating balance in my life so I accepted my girlfriends offer.

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So I set off to the theatre in search of balance and to see what Carrie Bradshaw and the crew were up to this go round. I usually learn life lessons when I go to the movies. A part of me thinks it’s God’s special way of speaking to me, as I rarely sit long enough for Him to reach me otherwise.So as I was sitting there watching the movie and I saw the scene with Charlotte tearfully admitting to Miranda that being a mother of two is sometimes overwhelming, it resonated immediately with me and I breathed a sigh of relief.

As a single mother of two teenagers and the owner of a public relations firm, sometimes I am not sure if I am coming or going. Between leaving the an event with a client and heading to soccer practice, picking up my daughter from cheer practice, checking on media calls, placating clients and checking the kids homework and my emails, sometimes I end the night halfway towards crazy and across the street from exhausted.

My best girlfriend is a single mother and owner of an exclusive spa and the two of us take turns lamenting if we’ll be able to get up the next day and do it all over again. Of course we support each other and both of us get up the next morning and do it all over again, but there is a sense of shame associated with admitting that motherhood can be overwhelming and one can feel as if they are failing on a number of levels. 

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I can remember one particular day leaving the set of ‘What Chilli Wants‘. I had a media training session earlier that day so I’d been gone from my home since 8 am when the kids got on the school bus. I knew that my son had a banquet for his soccer team that he needed to  be at by 6:30 pm. So I’m racing home in rush hour traffic through downtown Atlanta to my little slice of suburbia trying to play beat-the-clock.

I had to get home, grab my son and take him to the restaurant where his team was meeting. I made it home by 6:30 but by the time I grabbed him, instructed my daughter to make herself dinner and got back on the road to the restaurant it was almost 7:15. I pushed my son into the room and took in the disapproving glances from the coach and other parents before excusing myself to the ladies room where I allowed myself to cry for approximately two minutes before pulling myself together and getting back out there to be the supportive Mommy that I know my son deserves.

 

I have felt that way with my children, with clients, with my radio co-host and even sometimes in relationships with friends and family.  Living up to the superwoman mantra many of us have set for ourselves is unrealistic and quite