I've been crying all week... and obviously I have no idea why.

This has been one of the most trying weeks in my life.  And that's mostly because I'm a big, selfish, whiny brat.  Well, that's what I usually blame my seemingly-senseless crying on.  However, I guess I could have one excuse.  I've spent all week helping a dear friend leave her husband and a bad situation.  On the one hand, I'm so lucky I'm a stay-at-home mom because I can do things like this instead of worrying about missing time at work.  On the other hand, I did have to take my newborn on a week of emotional rollercoasters that very easily could have turned violent.  (Not by me.  I was just crying, remember?)  The worst thing I worried about incessantly (besides a jilted husband coming home at an inopportune moment) was being a bad mom.  More specifically, I was fully stressed that I had to leave the Tiny Tot in her carseat or on her playmat almost constantly while I lifted obscenely heavy furniture, played the shoulder to cry on, and drove hundreds of miles across the state.  One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn since Tiny Tot was born is that life keeps going on.  No one is going to wait on your baby to get to school age.  You can't just sit at home, not doing anything until your child is off doing her own thing.  I always heard stories growing up of my dad taking me along to jobsites, dropping me in a play-yard and running a skill-saw mere feet from my head as I played.  And obviously I turned out alright.  So, since it's become my turn to raise progeny, I've had to take her along. (Not that I could stand leaving her behind anyway.)  And honestly, it's not going to hurt anything.  In fact, after this week, I realized I'm going to be so proud to tell her about this someday.  I was along when my father was building homes for people--making their dreams come true.  And now, Tiny Tot will always know that she was there when we helped her "aunt" find a new sense of freedom and happiness.  She giggled and smiled and gave a troubled woman something to laugh about.  Perhaps these stories will remind her to be a good friend at all times, regardless of her own stresses in life.  We can't turn inward and hide behind our tiny new family while the world is still spinning outside.  Moms were people before they because moms--friends, wives, sex-kittens, what have you--and we have to keep it up or risk losing ourselves completely.