I'm like a Mom

Only I have no children...

I don't even have pets that I claim as children...

I've had several friends tell me I am like the mom of the group. I take care of everyone and make sure that they have everything that they need.

To some they may think, "awe that's so sweet of you." My thoughts are, it's not bad but sometimes it feels like a curse. For example, in preparing for a road trip I went snack shopping. Staring at the shelf of snacks I wonder how much is going to be enough? There will be 4 of us on a 11-ish hour trip (depending on who is driving). I start putting things in my basket (had to get a basket because I knew it would help limit the number of things I bought), usually starting with a smaller package then thinking, "well what if everyone wants some then I need enough for 4 people to snack on." Trading the smaller bag for a bigger bag, I wonder if maybe this is too much, yet it stays in my basket. We'll need sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy and everything in between to make sure every one has anything they could possibly crave! Making my way to the checkout stand my basket full and a box of crackers in my hand because it wouldn't fit. On my way home I started thinking about all the stuff that I bought... this is too much. There are 4 of us not a family of 10, I think I bought enough for 10. Not to mention that the other 2 people traveling with my hubby and I are adults and capable of buying their own snacks, they don't need me to buy them for them like they are children. Thinking about it now I laugh and my husband laughed when he saw everything I bought. BUT we will definitely not go hungry, even if we get stranded for a week we would probably still have a sufficient amount of food on which we could survive.

This "mom factor" that goes on in my brain I always over plan things. If I have a get together I usually have too much food because I stress about running out of it and people not having enough to eat. Not to mention while people are over I want to make sure everyone is having fun and enjoying themselves. I have gotten better, I can actually enjoy a party now rather then spend the whole party time stressing about everyone else. There are still times when I can't seem to control it, road trip snacks is obviously one of those times, maybe next road trip I will do better.