As a mom do you ever feel like a flight attendant on a plane that's about to go down? Chaos is happening all around you, people are panicking, nobody knows what to do and you're standing up shouting:

"EVERYONE REMAIN CALM! WE ARE GOING TO BE JUST FINE!"

Now I understand that my job is to be the grown up. We can't have mom freaking out when things start going south, but every once in awhile, just a teensy part of the time, it can be a little overwhelming to keep the boat steady. Because as crazy as it seems, moms are people too. That's right. We get stressed, and upset and frustrated. Sometimes we even get our feelings hurt.

Shocker, I know.

I was talking to another mom recently and she said "you know sometimes I get tired of always having to be the one that's in a good mood, the one that has to cater to everyone else's feelings." That resonated with me. As moms we take on the troubles and cares of our children and spouses. We feel deeply when someone is hurting and we understand that often that hurt gets misdirected towards us. Once I heard someone say "you're only as happy as your saddest child." Now, I don't completely subscribe to that philosophy because if I did, with six kids the percentage of time I would be happy would be really low...But as a mom it can be challenging to navigate the times when our family members are struggling.

And I want to be clear that 90% of the time I'm grateful that I'm capable of managing the whirlwinds of family life. I want to hear my kid's troubles and I want them to come to me for advice. When my husband has a lot on his plate I want to lend a hand to help--I welcome it. I take great pride (is it ok to say pride?) in being able to do that. It's what I signed up for and it's in my job description--a job that I love. I mean that--I love it.

But if every once in a while, in a rare moment, I can't figure out how to put my oxygen mask on, maybe just give me a second to catch my breath, regain my composure and then return to directing you to the emergency exits.