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Right as right can be
Sarah Carson
for Spotlight
It seemed like a close thing to a vacation – I mean, a whole week alone in my home with no kiddies.
And even though I’d be recovering from surgery, I was looking forward to it with more excitement than you’d think was possible for a decent parent.
I had everything prepared to make this week as pleasant as could be. Laundry done, house freshly cleaned, meals made and frozen, lots of snacks, and movies & books to pass the time.
The beginning of the week went as planned. It was wonderful to wake when I wanted – the routine was nowhere to be found!! No frantic school morning scenarios. No whiny moans of “Mooooom!!” No breaking up battles over which brother is the biggest idiot because he can’t even stay alive in level 5 of Super Mario Brothers.
Ahead of me stretched the luxury of lying abed watching movie after movie. Afternoon naps. My very own glass of pop with nobody’s backwash. That first morning I came downstairs the floors practically squeaked in their wonderful cleanliness. No sign of a stray dinky car anywhere in sight. My meals tasted weird until I realized that it was just because the food was still warm….
It didn’t take very long - sure the house was still practically screaming “I’ve been Mr. Cleaned!” but my footsteps were starting to echo in the emptiness. I was waking up when I wanted to, but to do what? I was already sick of watching movies. The books had lost their appeal, and I was feeling like a lump. I stopped taking my pain meds just so that I would have something to complain about. There were no signs of yesterdays’ meal under the table. The laundry could hardly even be fairly called a “pile”. It hadn’t even overflowed the basket, let alone the laundry room itself. The bathroom smelled too clean – and there was no pee around the bottom of the toilet bowl. It just wasn’t right. I hadn’t even cursed in days…
By the end of the week I was almost crawling the walls. There’s something freakish about a house that stays clean for a whole week. I seriously contemplated emptying a few toy bins just to make the playroom more typical in appearance. Maybe peeing a little around the edge of the toilet bowl just to make the bathroom feel more like home. I wandered the house and ended up in Ben & Jacks room staring at their beds. What was this strange melancholy?
I couldn’t quite put my finger on my own feelings and then it struck me like a brick wall. Could it be? Could it actually be after all of these years? Yes! Boredom! There it was. I was bored as hell and despite the sure knowledge that within a few days I’d be screaming inside for 5 minutes of peace & quiet, I missed the boys desperately.
Last night they arrived like a whirlwind. In the less than half hour before bedtime they had transformed our home from t.v-set-clean to something that looked as if the Vikings had ransacked it. Their footsteps rang through the house and I smiled as the strains of “No, you’re the loser!” floated up from the playroom.
Aaaah. The boredom has left the building, ladies and gentlemen. My little vacation was finally over…and I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before bad words filled my head and we were at last back to normal. This is the life.
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