Passing Judgement

Being a mom is tough, even without other people looking at you, judging how good of a mother you are. We live in a small town, and our house is on a corner lot...we have a good sized yard, and one of the roads is a main drag in town. It's not a busy highway by any means, but it does get a fair amount of traffic. It does make me nervous...I still don't let Jacob play outside without supervision...call me paranoid. Anyway, there is a old widow 2 house down the road from us and she is one of those old women that always is giving her opinion on what you could do better, that you suck as a mother, that kind of thing. I really try to ignore her but it gets to me sometimes. I don't know if she looks at our yard, which needs a good trimming, we don't have nice landscaping, our house needs painted and we have a gravel parking lot that we are letting weeds take over part of in the hopes that eventually we can have grassm, and thinks we must not take care of our kids. To the contrary...our yard looks like crap because we spend time with our kids. Today I took the kids outside and I was actually trimming the bushes, (something I hope I don't have to do in a few years with 2 sons, possibly son #3 gestating) and Jacob was pulling Clara and Isaiah up and down the sidewalk in the wagon. They were actually behaving. I'm fine with them going down to this widow's driveway and then turning around. Which is what they were doing. I guess maybe she didn't see me and assumed that the horrible mother down the road wasn't watching her children, even though I was just in amongst the forest that lines our porch and could see them. I could run after them and they were within earshot should I need to get their attention. She felt it necessary to walk down the sidewalk with her hands on her hips to see where I was. I just smiled and waved once she realized I was indeed watching my children. It's not necessary for me to follow directly behind them at all times. She then turned around and walked back up to her porch. I swear, it drives me crazy. I know I'm not the only one she does that to, but damn, it's irritating. My kids aren't ever outside unsuperivsed, and like every other mother out there, I do the best I can. There will be times they get away from me, or do something I wish they wouldn't have, but ask any parent whose kids are grown and they'll tell you...it happens, there's not a whole lot you can do but do your best. Time must have clouded her memory of the days of many small children running around. I have half a mind to really give her something to talk about. I think next time she's outside, I'll put on a white tank top and let my belly hang out the bottom, cut off a pair of my jeans so my butt is hanging out the bottom and see if I have a thong I could put on and let the top poke out the waistband, yeah, and I'll leave the top unbuttoned, grab a wine glass, pour grape juice in it, and put an unlit cigarette in my mouth next time I take the kids outside. I'll go outside, holler at the kids, chug down the "wine" and see what she says. I bet she'd be speechless!