In one of those random YouTube sessions that the exhausted mind seems to delight in, I came across a series of videos from Ellen, who I love, featuring Kristen Bell, who I also love. In my Mega Millions fantasy, I have a house between the two of them and we run across each other in the bakery and they notice my flawless pronunciation of “croissant” and think I’m French so I keep up the charade for months, merely responding with “oui” and “non” when they’re around, and become a trusted source of verifying the authenticity of French baked goods for celebrities everywhere and then I get my own cooking show and –
Sorry about that… #YouKnowYoureAWriterWhen your blog post gets derailed by a very detailed description of your fantasy life…
Anyway, this video involves Kristen (yes, we are on a first name basis – see above) coming to the rescue of a mom with 3 under 3. She takes out her checkbook to show how much she cares, but actually, the best thing she can do for the mom is babysit.
Really, what the mom needs, is the gift of time.
Yes, money would have gotten her a babysitter as well, but of course it is funnier to see Kristen be silly with the babies. But for those who do not have a celebrity checkbook or recent lottery win, things like babysitting for your writer mom friend/sister are actually the best gift you can give them.
In the video, the mom gets a cocktail and a foot massage, both things that do not need to be paid for if done by friends and family. She didn’t even have to leave the house; she was simply in another room “off limits” from others.
The best thing about this gift is that there is no need to wait for a specific holiday!
I am writing this on a random Saturday in October that my husband has “gifted” me, since he is going away next weekend to watch football in another state. I am not going to grocery shop or go to the hardware store or do anything else that is on my big list of family/house stuff. He is taking care of all that. It’s not just time away from home, it’s time away from needing to do anything for them.
So I am spending the day volunteering, writing, meeting up with a new writer friend, writing some more… All things that I would have eventually done anyway, but probably not all in the same day and not without a fair amount of guilt and worry that I was forgetting something.
It might not be what you’d pick for yourself, but the perfect gift for the exhausted writer mom in your life is time to do whatever she wants without interruption. It can mean she gets a day out of the house, or she gets to close the door to her room and not come out for a few hours. She may spend 3 hours writing or just curl up in bed and binge The Good Place. Your gift is the time, not the decisions on how to spend it (though I doubt she would say no if a foot massage was involved somehow!)
Easy, right? Now go forth and make the writer mom in your life a happy one with the simple gift of time!
(If you also want to give her a little something that you can put a bow on, we just opened the Writer Mom Life Shop with mugs, notebooks, and teeshirts!)
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