So all the monkeys are hanging around the house today (as well as Monday. The teacher's needed a four day weekend to do all their work)...
They are occupying themselves by changing their clothes several times! When she walked down in this number, I told her how beautiful I thought she looked. She looked all chagrinned and sighed, "Yeah, but I need somebody to dance with." And I thought to myself, "Too true, too true."
I did manage to get 3 of the 4 kids with me at the YMCA so that I could have a little workout time. But of course, that means I needed to add a shower on the to-do list when we got home. I thought I had found a moment when everyone was occupied. Obviously, there is no such moment at my house. About three minutes into the shower, Ruby's head pops in the shower to tell me that Jane has just spilled the big milk.
You know, from everything that people tell me, and from all the novels I read, I understand I am going to miss this lifestyle someday. And as I methodically cleaned up the 57th cup of spilled milk today, I pondered that over in my mind. How is it possible? How will I miss this? But then it occurred to me, it's perhaps not specifically the spilled milk that I will miss, but perhaps it's the capabilities that come along with all these little kids. Spilled milk is as common around here as the phone ringing, or the mail being delivered. It happens daily. As a result, it's not THAT big of a deal, I'm VERY accomplished at cleaning up spills. Which is why I realized perhaps these days will be missed. With so much going on always, you develop certain skills and capabilities that help you be effective. Perhaps as the kids grow up and leave, your skill set diminishes and what used to be no big deal, or easy to deal with becomes difficult. And that ultimately is what people are trying to say they miss. Maybe. Or maybe I'm just way over thinking these few cups of spilled milk...
5 comments:
I don't wonder why California has such low test scores for it's school system...it seems it's ALWAYS teacher work day or minimum release days or something like that. Maybe they'd do better if the kids actually went to school for more than four days in a row! (Sorry, that's a total pet peeve of mine).
And yes, Annee, I too take pleasure in the skills that this time of my life gives me...as well as the daily blessings I receive from being the mother to so many lovely little children. I often invite my husband to partake in more of the blessings that come from serving your children....especially the ones that come from getting up at 6 am with the one child who refuses to sleep in! :)
You're doing great....think of all the skills you're adding to your resume! I, personally, am an extreme expert at removing vomit from carpet!
PS - I just read on Alyssa's blog that you'll be in California in June...can we see you too? :) Of course, my kids will still be in school then - oh well, I'll just pull them out - I can contribute to low test scores too!
This post brings me comfort as a mom. It is nice to know (in an odd way) that these things are happening in other households too. For some reason I think that I am the only one who can't take a shower without finding a half naked child on the counter and a huge spill all over.
But hey, what are you suppose to do if you can't find anybody to dance with?
No, it's not the skill set. It's the Heart. You miss having so many loving hearts with you to love. Not having to clean up the spilt milk and being able to enjoy a long, steamy hot shower uninterrupted are suppose to be the compensating factors.
Love, Grandma Z
As a teacher, I hated teacher work days too. We never seemed to do anything productive, and I would have preferred to have been teaching my students instead of sitting through painful meetings. I'm also not sure that you'll miss cleaning up the spilled milk as much as you'll miss the cute little face that came to tell you in the shower that the milk was spilled. That's what I think will be missed, the cute little faces and personalities, not the back breaking work.
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