Answer me this: At what point in life do weekends become more wearing than weekdays? If I didn't have such an effete mind and body this evening I'd put some thought into creating a mathematical formula to determine that point. I'm pretty sure it's some combination of age, number of children, children's ages, children's activities, and children's daily caloric intake needs. Squeeze some mathy operations between those variables, throw in a cosine or two just to be safe, and I'm reasonably sure I'd have a formula that would at least get me in the discussion for a major award.
Children. Those wonderful, stressful, delightful, needy, loving, exhausting children of mine. They are the effulgence of my life, but some days feel more like the shovelers of my grave. On this Saturday we were up and on the go to a gymnasium by 8:00 for a morning of volleyball. Breakfast beforehand, lunch on the heels of. Wash dishes. Prep for supper. Listen to homework complaints. Make supper. Make dessert. More dishes. I remember my childhood and teenage years, marveling at my mom and how much she loved to spend time in the kitchen. She never left - ever! And now I understand why. I'm sorry Mom!
But what would life be without children? This morning I had the privilege of coaching Child Three while Child Two kept the scoreboard moving every time Child One, the referee, signaled a point. What a thrill for this dad, to be surrounded by all three of my kids participating in an activity we all love! And, full disclosure, lunch was of the fend-for-yourself variety while we bantered about the morning's quality of play. Making dessert was my choice....I'd been looking for an excuse to make one of my favorite bars for a long time. And supper was chili, another favorite of mine which is fairly easy to make and allows for dishes to be washed while it simmers. Looking back at my comments about this "busy" day gives me the urge to delete it all. Busy yes, but worth every effort.
In a year Child One will be nearing her high school graduation. Child Three has begun her transformation from little girl to pre-teen as Child Two, a full-fledged teen, spends more time alone in her room than with the rest of us. These busy weekend days do have an end, and it's closer on the horizon than I want it to be. I will fall into bed and hit not the alarm button, but the repeat button, for the cycle of eat, dishes, prep, eat will commence shortly after dawn on Sunday in pretty much the same fashion it did on this Saturday. And that's ok by me. I love my kids, and I love being a dad. Even though there are times I think it's killing me.
This was a two-for-one post with new vocabulary. Was set on using "effulgence" and then noticed "effete". Liked 'em both, used 'em both. Hey, it's my #project....I can bend the rules any way I want.
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