Overwhelmed but not Ostentatious

As I drove home yesterday, as soon as I was outside New Orleans East, I became disgustingly agitated. The music could not soothe me, the traffic was irking me, and all I really wanted was a damn hug. I didn't want to hear Mz. Kitti cuss anymore, I couldn't stomach anymore of Wolf Blitzer and friends' spin on the days news...
I turned off the radio, cracked my windows and let the cool zoom of a southern autumn come into my car. As the days drag on, I am thinking more about my little one and how she has grown into a little ball of energy...how she happily shrieks and jumps when she sees me at the end of the day; how she will wake up out of a coma to greet her daddy sometimes when he comes in late.
My fellow bourgiecrats, I am overwhelmed. Working full time, taking on additional employment, being a mommy, cook, maid, washer woman, commuter, daughter, coach's wife. I'll let that fragment be an attestation.
Last week, the bourgie baby was sick with an ear infection, and I didn't give it a second thought about staying home from work. Family first has new meanings for me. Before I thought it was some overly cliched statement cooked up from the folks at Hallmark.
While home, I was watching an episode of Oprah about a mother who was overwhelmed and unawaringly left her little baby in the car for her entire shift. She was later found dead. How could people blast her and say she's the most hated mother in America. Being a mother has changed my life in so many ways: physically, mentally, sleepily. I give this woman kudos for just sharing her story without completely losing it. To lose a child that young and because of the overwhelming distraction that WORKING MOTHERS have to deal with...Working moms, we understand this all too well.
Just the other morning, I was running in our usual morning sprint. Fix my lunch, pack baby bottles, change a poopy diaper, grab all the bags, load the car, load the baby, crank the car, turn to Oprah and Friends to hear Gayle's monologue for my morning commute, drop baby off at daycare all under 10 minutes (I'm not lying)...wait a minute...forgot something. Yes folks, I forgot to strap the baby in with the seatbelt and didn't notice until we were halfway there. I felt my heart race and almost leap out my throat. I immediately thought of Janet Jackson's character in Why Did I Get Married?.
Lord knows there are other mothers who've done worst or even more humorous stories of their morning routine. But mothers do not share their stories of being overwhelmed just to inure empathy from others. "Oh that poor mother" is not the reaction we want. We just need help and understanding.