School's Out
Today is the last day of school before the holiday. Naturally, I'm overjoyed at the prospect of having my five kids around me 24/7, but I am bracing myself for the onslaught of mayhem come noon today. It's not easy trying to cram 10 hours of work and errands into less than half the time, but it beats the heck out of trying to do these things with kids underfoot. Remember when you had your babies and signed up for rooming in because at birth he seemed so peaceful and angelic--Ghandi reborn? Then after 30 minutes with the wailing little monster has you sweating bullets and dancing to his command by screaming with hunger and peeing and squirting out green poop every 20 seconds. That's when you crawl on your hands and knees out into the hall, grab the nearest nurse (heck, an orderly or dietician will do at this point) and beg her for mercy: "Take him back! Take him back! For the love of god, woman, take his back. He's Demian ressurected, I tell you! I can't find the 666 yet, but I know it's scrawled somewhere on his evil little body." Well, that's how I feel about the kids coming home for Christmas. It's bitter sweet. There'll be fights. There'll be begging and crying. There'll be tiresome declarations of boredom. There'll be the the ever-revolving door. And the house will look like the setting for a documentary about Category 5 hurricanes. Despite it all, I count the minutes filled with anticipation, joy, and maternal love. Merry Christmas everyone.