Ninja.

So, I got a good friend to let me try this out, not because of the potential bonus, but I want to be on it just because I wanted to write again. Well, no, I am not a very good writer or article writer, maybe a semi-good storyteller, so let me try.

According to Wikipedia, "a ninja or shinobi was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination and guerrilla warfare. " Well, I am no means an agent or a mercenary nor do I engage in espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination or guerrilla warfare. But what I am is an unacknowledged and unrecognized kind of person. So, sure I have my selfie moments, but my Facebook is private and I get to choose only who sees my photos. I am kind of insecure, so there.

So why ninja? Well, it just sounds sexy. And I believe, there is more to the word "ninja" than all the bone-cracking, blood curling, sword-wielding, ninja star throwing, all dressed in blacked masked person, there are also ninjas who wear ordinary clothes and do rather ordinary things for the people who matter to them the most.

So why ninja? Well, there's a lot that happens in my day. While some might say that being a work-at-home mom has got to be the most convenient thing in the world, hmm, well, it has its ups and downs. Sure, I get to work on my own terms, but the reason I chose to work from home is because I did not want to miss out on the lives of my children any more than I have already missed out choosing to work corporate for nine long years. (Well, that's another story.)

So why ninja? Working from home has really taught me more to multitask more than working from a desk in an office ever did. As soon as I wake up in the morning, after a cup of coffee and breakfast, if I could fit it in, I am up and about either picking up the mess the smaller kids left before going to sleep the previous night or just making sure everything else is spic and span to be able to move about in the small space we call home.

If it's not making sure the grade school daughter has been dressed and ready for school or ensuring the two year old's diaper has been changed, I am in front of my good old lappy making sure I have my work properly downloaded and ready for another daily grind.

But whichever comes first, 95% of the time, I'd have to do all these things simultaneously while the hubby makes sure the dogs are fed and the plants have been watered. The other 5% is when my husband decides I need the extra hour of sleep and he has to do the motherly duties to the two younger daughters.

After all is done within the two-hour window we get after getting up in the morning, we drive our daughter to school, and we're lucky if she is only five-minutes late. (Blame it on traffic or some police enforcer trying to make some sense of the multitude of cars and other forms of public utility vehicles crisscrossing the roads along our route.)

So why ninja? So, this just happens in the better couple of hours and then the real roller coaster begins. When there are no important meetings we have to do with lawyers, as they have now become part of monthly schedules (like I said the corporate life is a whole different story), the hubby and I sit down and start working, typing away, pedaling away and in between, we have to check if the baby's diaper is soaked, she is hungry, needs some toys to pass her time or needs to be hugged. Phone calls from family, messages from colleagues that need to be answered. And of course, fitting in a little 60-minute cardio exercise when I can.

Then lunch comes around, sometimes we eat, sometimes we don't depending on how much work needs to be done or how much time was wasted because of some errand we have to do in the morning. By about three, we start packing up things and get ready to pick up the grade schooler and hopefully spend some quality time on the road with no gadget in hand, just human interaction, an occasional made up story or a song or two on the way home.

So, why ninja? As we get home, continue whatever work is left to do, pedaling and typing away and if I am lucky, I finish before six and I get to watch cartoons with my girls or do homework. If my work is taking longer than expected, then the hubby watches over the girls, one doing school work, and the other wanting to be hugged because she is fussy and wants some sleep. Dinner is most of the time take out and it's a feast when it's home cooked either by me or the hubby. Either ways, we just have to make sure the stomach has something in it when lunch was missed.

Things get a little more relaxed when I finally hit that send button. I get to be couch potatoes with my babies, cuddling and hugging, tickling, laughing and just enjoying them before bedtime.

By now, the older kids message or let us know they're okay wherever they are. But in my heart, I often wish, I could still tell them to come home immediately, but they're adults now and they have their own lives. But of the occasional advice on love life or life in general, I am still grateful we are part of these older children's lives.

So why ninja? Ninja, "a person who excels in a particular skill or activity." I am a mom, a wife and yes, I work from home with a lot of transcription work. And yes, I believe I excel in these and yes, I believe these are skills. Being a mom is not easy, but it's not hard either. It's enjoyable. And just like everything else, it's an adventure. It get's a little painful when any of my children complain of a cough, a headache, bad scores in class or anything that I can't help them with or I wish it would have been me feeling whatever is aching or I am to be blamed for a low grade in class.

I am a wife, and though I know I am not perfect. I bicker, I nag, I argue with the hubby, he knows he is my best friend and he gets me. He knows I get tired too and that I have my own thoughts.

I never really thought I could be the mother and wife I am today. I have always thought I would be grow old alone, no kids. That was how I was growing up, but now in my early 40's, I cannot imagine my life without my husband and without my kids. And yes, I like being me, a mommy, and a wife.

So why the long introduction? I just want to be known as that. That no matter what I write in here will be pieces of my life as a mom, as a wife, as a person, as the ninja that I see myself I am today. No longer the carefree gypsy that I have known growing up.

I have my kids who I adore and love unconditionally.

So, I am new here and what to I want to share? I know there are mothers like me who just want to rant, vent and sometimes just want to know they are not alone. Things happen in life. Life happens.

So, there by way of introduction. I am the ninja that I choose to become and my skills include being the kind of mom that I am and the wife that I am.

As this ninja of a mom signs on, meet my entire clan. A fun bunch and freedom loving citizens of this earth.