BrewsterConnections - Brewster Academy

Alumni News
hooplA
the chAllenge Accepted:
“stAy-At-home mom” sArAh (Bunker) kern ’93, leAds oFF
greenlAnd, new hAmpshire
Sarah was always one of my favorite students, so I was a bit nonplussed when I learned she had named her cat “Hoopes”
and wondered if it was a compliment or not. (Perhaps it depends on whether it’s an indoor or outdoor cat?) Sarah
survived both my English and journalism classes and was especially helpful with the yearbook. She also visited the
campus frequently while in college. We kept up an active correspondence while she traveled the world, and I was stuck on
a sailboat. I was delighted to hear of her marriage and the birth of Samara. Sarah’s obviously a very happy, loving, stay-athome
mom as you’ll quickly realize.
have traveled around the
I world. I have seen the sun rise
at the Taj Mahal, the sun set at
Angkor Wat. I have felt the joy of
releasing a rehabilitated red-tailed
hawk and the pain of holding my
mom’s hand as she died. Nothing
prepared me for motherhood. It
is indeed an experience like no
other.
Morning
It is a beautiful spring morning
as I awaken to the birds singing
outside the window. A cool breeze
brushes across my foot sticking
out from under the covers. I take
a deep breath in and sigh, so
peaceful ... then my eyelid is pried
open by some little fingers, and I see
those big baby blues peering at me
as if to ask, “Are you ready yet?”
and the whirlwind of the day begins.
“Ga?” she says and on cue the two
Chihuahuas climb out from under the
covers, shake off their sleepies, and
she shrieks in delight. Daddy has
already been up,showered, coffee’d,
and gone to work, and now the rest of
the crew is awake and ready to start
the day.
Get up and out of bed, change a
diaper, let the dogs out, fill the bird
feeders (and find any bird feeders
that the raccoons may have carried off
0
The Kern family: Samara, Sarah (Bunker ’93) and Dan
during the night) all the while with
my little boss watching my every
move and “helping” which at this
age (11 months) basically is undoing
anything I have just done. Inside we
go, as I wonder if my neighbors are
appalled that I fill the bird feeders in
my bathrobe?
Breakfast for her, coffee for me.
Usually I don’t mix the two up, but
she lets me know if I do. A little
playtime while I clean up, sometimes
it is a lot of playtime depending upon
what she had (or chose not to have)
for breakfast.
BrewsterConnections l Fall 2006
A shower, which is usually spent
quickly washing my hair and
soaping up and rinsing while
Samara sits at my feet playing
in the water. (It can get ugly if
I don’t let her in the tub with
me.) Then a quick wash for her,
a quick dry for us both, and
then I blow-dry my hair – on a
good day – while sitting on the
floor with her and occasionally
turning the moving air on her,
which brings about a large grin.
(Makeup is meant to be put on in
the car while sitting in a parking
lot before going into someplace
public.)
Scoop up the munchkin before she
climbs back in the tub, and we’re off
to try to find an outfit that she hasn’t
grown out of yet – always a challenge.
I glower at the hamper in her room,
which is already getting full again –
kids are messy! After a struggle to get
another diaper on and then figuring
out how to get pants on her without
putting both legs in one pant leg, we
throw on some socks (occasionally
they don’t match –- but she pulls them
off constantly, so I just say we lost
the match if someone asks) and we
head upstairs to get mommy dressed.
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