The Juggler

It’s a dreary, drizzly Saturday morning and I have refused to let the children get out of bed with an, “It’s too early to be up! See, the sun isn’t even out yet,” knowing full well that it’s raining and, no, the sun does not come out on rainy days. They don’t know that and they need sleep. The oldest is in and out of bed until past nine on even a good day and the youngest likes to wake up at four. Needless to say, no one is heeding what they seem to take as my unsolicited advice and I am taking a much-needed early morning Mommy Needs Peace and Coffee Moment. So, let it be.

In our house when anyone gets up, sometimes even before, even if it is go to the bathroom at four or five in the morning, Sebastian assumes it is time for breakfast and his potty break outside. He wanders around and around and whimpers until he is fed and taken out. Since, it’s just me while Andrew is gone, obviously I have a system. Sebastian comes first in the morning routine while the kids are in bed. I took him out in the grey wet morning air this morning. The fresh cool air is nice in the morning and it’s so quiet outside and I had a thought. Motherhood is all about juggling. We are jugglers and damage control coordinators.

I know other mothers and the story is as old as sliced bread: Husband comes home from work, takes a look around and asks the dreaded question that is likely to set anyone who has had little sleep, dealt with little people all day long who have very little command of the English language and respond in opposite ways than is usually appropriate to any given direction, situation, etc. He asks, “What have you been doing all day?”
Every mother is full aware when the kids are still in pajamas at five o’clock, the sink is full of dishes, hair is still uncombed and perhaps even teeth have been left unbrushed. Why, he asks… Why? Because mothers need to juggle and handle damage control. Sometimes, all the time, maybe less often when the children get older? At least, this is how I feel on any given day. Juggler and Damage Control Coordinator to the rescue!

My husband travels and is gone for sometimes a week or more at any given time and he knows better than to ask anything even remotely sounding like that sort of question. I am sure that when he opens the door when he comes home he is probably fully prepared to walk into any kind of crazy situation that might be occurring. Especially because of his erratic travel schedule, we juggle and there always seems to be damage control. I can even hear my mother’s voice in my head at times saying, “This is only a season.” Logically, I know that, but when you are in the thick of it, it’s tough. Any mother out there has been there and will agree.

Maybe I say all this because it’s Easter weekend and it’s a “Family Time” and one major component of our nuclear family is absent and so I am feeling, full force, The Juggler taking over. Today we do our Easter Fun and instead of dying eggs this year, my mother in law gave us a cake pan with bunny shaped craters for the batter, so we will make and decorate little bunny cakes. Very cute! Tomorrow afternoon? Easter egg hunt along with baskets. I am preparing for sugar filled days, which means I will have to scrape my daughter down from the ceiling. So until the festivities begin and The Juggler swings into action, I sit in the dim morning light and type this, sipping my creamy coffee basking in the brief, but very necessary serenity before it all begins…