Monday and Back in the Saddle

On Monday morning, I leapt back into our regular routine. Honestly, the six hours of sleep I got last night with only two heart pounding nightmares was so much better than I've had in the last two weeks, I woke up feeling like I'd spent a weekend at a spa. Good thing I felt invigorated because John spent the morning throwing up and I discovered that the freezer had been left barely ajar all weekend, so was choked full of frost and ice. The morning was spent tackling these domestic "fires," unpacking, and washing three loads of laundry.

The kids' aunt and uncle sent us some hand-me-downs, among them some fantastic soldier dress-up clothing. This put a huge grin on John's face after he was well enough to get off the couch and play. He played soldier (defending the family from bad guys) the rest of the day!

I was struck at the humor of my own inability to Do It All when we were playing in the back yard in the afternoon: The baby was toddling along when she fell on a stump and got a big scrape on her leg. I picked up the screaming baby and saw she was bleeding. At that moment, Mary began shrieking from the back woods, "I'm covered in ants! I'm covered in ants!" We have terrible biting red ants here in the South, so I didn't know if that was what she was facing. I raced to the back fence and was screaming back at her (while holding the still-screaming baby), "Mary, run to me! RUN TO ME!" She's weeping that her shoes are off, she can't run through the woods barefoot, and still, "I'M COVERED IN ANTS!" And at that very moment, John comes around the corner from the garage, clutching his middle, saying, "My stomach hurts, Mama . . ."

I laughed lest I cry. Thankfully, Margaret's bleeding stopped, Mary ran to me barefoot, the ants were black, not red, and John did not throw up again.

Before dinner, I was consoled with some sweet domestic moments. I told the children they could watch an episode of The Lone Ranger, but first I had to fold a load of laundry and, asking casually over my shoulder as I walked out of the room, "John, would you set the table for me first?" I came back five minutes later to find cloth napkins out, forks for everyone and knives for Mama and Daddy only, and each person's preferred water glass at their spot (tall glass with ice for Daddy, short glass without ice for Mama). I didn't have to nag or stand there and dictate each next item to set out. What a delightful moment as a parent!

Then I heard Mary say, "Mama, the salad is ready." Of her own initiative, she had finished washing all the lettuce leaves harvested from the garden and put them in the salad spinner for me! It's the little things that make a mama so happy, you know?