I have to admit something horrible.  I’m kind of a movie cynic. 

There are a few movies I really like, and a handful I like…but most movies are either not my taste because of writing/plot/acting (“Grindhouse” is not my kind of movie), or they are a “laundry movie.”  They’re good, but they keep you company while you’re doing the laundry.  For the record, “Overboard” is absolutely the best “laundry movie” on earth.  I can quote that thing backward and forward.

So, knowing all this, I  didn’t really think I would like this movie at all.  

It’s a “Mom” movie, so I figured it would just be full of dumb jokes and stressed out moms.  I expected to leave the theater embarrassed of my profession, honestly.

I was EXTREMELY surprised with how it turned out!

Now, I have to say that I liked this movie because I was its audience.  I am a mid-30s Christian stay at home mom, so it was written for people like me.  If you were a 53 year old single man, I don’t think it would have the same effect….but you never know.  It was a sweet enough movie that unless he was dead inside, he might like it too.

The movie is about a mom named Allyson who is overwhelmed with things…I can’t pinpoint it onto one particular thing, because if you are a mom in America you understand this.  She and her husband are raising three young kids, and while there are many moments that take your breath away, like when her children paint loving pictures of their family, there are other moments when you realize they painted loving pictures of their family….all over the walls.

Her husband talks her into having a Mom’s night out, and she plans a relaxing night at a fancy restaurant with some friends.  Unfortunately, that is about as far as she gets with things going right.

By the end of a disastrous night wrought with one failed plan after the next, she confesses that she isn’t “enough.”  She isn’t a good enough friend, she isn’t a good enough mother, she isn’t a good enough wife, and she isn’t a good enough Christian.

And that is the end of me telling you about the movie, because what she realizes after her confession is what every mother should hear.  (it’s not preachy, you’re just going to have to trust me on this)

I know there are days when you are absolutely stellar.  Your hair is awesome, you are rockin’ your heels and your kids are happy all day.  You own those days.  But there are also days when you spend hours folding laundry with the kids before bedtime, only to discover “someone” (not naming names) dumped the whole Art Box out and scattered all the contents around the house, and Art class is in the morning.  Motherhood is always two steps forward and one step back with stuff like this, and it is imperative to accept this, I think.  Because you could be on top of the house 100%, but be two steps back with hearing what your children are saying to you during the day.  You could be on top of listening to them, but be three steps back with taking care of the house; so even though you are totally listening to the kids, they have no underwear left.  And neither do you.  And you told yourself last month that you would stop wearing your husband’s….just being honest here.

Motherhood has definitely been an amazing journey, but it isn’t a ride at Disneyland.  You are going to put in blood, sweat and tears for your family because you absolutely love them more than life itself, and you sincerely want the best for all of you.  

I shared the movie theater with about 100 other women who also got dressed up in their favorite dresses, wore their fancy necklaces and put their favorite ribbons in their hair.  Every other woman was there with their best Mom friend, and we all laughed until we cried at the same scenes, cheered for the husbands and was shocked that they had a baby in a tattoo parlor….!  

What I loved about that movie was that they didn’t pander to us.  They empathized with our fears, they comforted our worries, they showed us that every other mother is in the same place and we are all in this together.

Every woman in that theater was my peer and my friend.  And I have nothing but gratitude for the director and actors of this film for sharing that moment with us.

/I’m tearing up here, gotta go.

p.s., I found some resources they left for us, because they are good people 🙂

Mom’s Night Out Books, Group Devotionals & More