When Life Detours

A salad bowl… or rather, what’s left of it

Somehow this last month has not gone as planned, not by a long shot.

Last month the air conditioner went out. After twelve days of no AC in a Texas summer, my Husband bounded into his “we should move” mode. To prep for departure he arranged for some days off of work to make a big dejunking push.

Within 24 hours family called and asked if they could come visit. The army had just stationed my brother three hours away. We hadn’t seen him or his wife and four boys for years. It was a temporary post and there was some miscommunication which found his wife and kids without lodging save a “seedy motel”. Since they would only get to see him on weekends, his wife was highly tempted to head back north.

Eager for company, fearful for her sanity and horrified of the damage those boys might be causing, I insisted they come and stay with me. They’ve been here on the weekdays ever since.

Together we have 9 kids under age ten, and her infant is younger than mine. We’d probably be installing white padded walls if not for the big sturdy swingset we bought last Christmas. Her oldest boy loves Parkour stunts and aspires to be a “Ninja Warrior” when he grows up. If he’s not jumping from the top of the aforementioned swingset, he’s teaching my kids to literally climb the walls.

Her second oldest is as manipulative and mischievous as my second redheaded daughter. They’ve already heisted a bottle of candy sprinkles (found it empty in the garage) and emptied a third of our water storage on our back lawn. They found it fascinating to throw the bottles on the ground and see the caps break. Instant geyser!

My seven month old scavenges the well laden floor, darts for open doors and regularly scales our staircase.

Meanwhile, my Husband issued a challenge to my sister-in-law for the month and a half or so she’ll be around. To help me dejunk, organize and train the kids enough so that I could attend college (if I choose), without the household self-destructing. He’s apparently decided that my internal critic needed some real meat to chew on instead of always trying to revise his ideas.

To say that visiting family stalled my writing progress would be unfair. I’d been at a crawl before they arrived. However, even the shadow of my ambition was last spotted running from the wild stampede. I keep hoping I’ll locate it beneath the debris left in the wake, but it’s tough when that stampeding herd resides on site. I fear that if the kids find my ambition first they might mistake it for another invading cockroach and finish it off.

With my luck I’d only find out about it when a plumber fishes it out of the toilet with a metal snake.

Kids and bugs aren’t the only wandering in and out of this place. With the kids leaving the back door open, the invitation is just too much. I found a panicked sparrow fluttering against our window, from the inside. Fortunately we herded that out the front door.

Food is another game, especially when my Husband announced that he wanted to go on a 15 day raw food cleanse. That plan lasted about five days and a hundred bucks over the food budget.

I’ve no regrets. Seriously, if the days were twice as long, I’d never survive them and I can’t think of anything else. I love the help and the company. We’ve had late night talks on marriage, homeschooling and full analysis on each of our kids.

So, here I sit with a overdue critique, three promised drawings and an agreement to help sew 10+ costumes for a kids’ drama camp next week. For all my good intentions and plans, sometimes life won’t take “no” any more than some two year olds I know.

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