02 May 2013

a day with my merry brood :: happiness abbreviated

+get up. later than you wanted. again.

+make coffee. this entails grinding the coffee, getting out mugs, feeding the other mammals that inhabit your home, all whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. remember you wanted the Chemex coffee maker, even though it takes a million years to brew, it makes the-best-damn-coffee-you-have-ever-tasted, so you don't mind the wait. well maybe. when its all done and poured, you then wait for the coffee to wake you up. again.

+wake up the boys. they are tired because they fought you and fought you on homework last night and it took them forever to finish it. now they are crabby because they went to bed late. again. You are partly to blame because despite threatening to cut story time short, you still read them a chapter or two or three from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  you feed them breakfast. they are slow. you are anxious. their dad makes them lunch while you start barking orders to get dressed. the oldest, who is a teen, gets impatient. he was ready ages ago. he takes his lunch, puts on his bike helmet and rides off. with out saying good bye. again.

+out the door to walk to school. look at your watch. realize you and the younger two would be better off jogging to school to get there on time. you insist they walk faster. finally they are at school and all the little things come into focus. you are back home. you clean the kitchen and start a cup of tea. you feel calm. you get on the internet to check your email, you enter a time warp.........and suddenly it is time to pick up the boys. again. 

+home. happily and merrily you set out snack. they feast. you chat. they grunt. then they disappear into their rooms or into the backyard and up the tree and onto the roof. you remind them all that it is better to get homework done before dinner and they could really hurt themselves if they fall off. they ignore you. again.

+dinner time. oh boy this is fun! you are glad it is tuesday, not monday because you made spaghetti and sauce. you roll your eyes a bit thinking of the ritual you created of  'mannerless mondays.' it was a small effort to have one evening a week were you and their dad weren't haggling the boys about their manners and they in turn could eat however they wanted. the youngest adores this. he has lately pretended to be a giant T-Rex who can only eat with his mouth, keeping his hands behind his back, slurping up the food in the manner only a boy turned t-rex could do. so you are very glad, that with the spaghetti and the sauce, it is 'tastefully terrific tuesday', which you created to counter the adored mannerless monday. tuesday is the day to practice polished manners in hopes that they don't embrace the mannerless monday bit everyday of the week when they move out of the house. however, you fear this is another lost cause. again.

+dinner is done. dishes stacked. table cleared. boys help enormously. even scrap their plates in the compost and feed the dogs. this makes you smile as you wipe the table down, but you wonder if they are doing this to quell the coming homework battle. then its time for a quick-pinched, scrapped-out homework saga; in which they protest, fight, finally get it done, but oh so later than you want. then its bath and bedtime. again.

+story time with the younger two. the oldest retreats to his room. you smile as the dogs wander into the boys' room with you, oh those dogs love story time as much as the boys do (and you have to admit you adore it too).  one of the pups always jumps on the middle's bed, the sweetest one lies patiently on the floor next to. before you open a book, the youngest insists on working on the novel/screen play he is writing with you. he chats happily about "the lonely scout" who is traveling with a wizard looking for his lost brotherhood of scouts. you think to yourself, if this one doesn't end up an architect designing lego products, he has a future in crafting stories.

+you finally settle in to read. you kiss the youngest's head and smell his sweet hair. you remember they are all still little in so many ways. it will be years before they dance out the door in any official way. once, in jest, you calculated the hours you spent over the last 12+ years reading to them. between you and your husband the hours were staggering; thousands upon thousands of hours. but they were hours well spent. a time of reconciliation, renewal and wishes of sweetest of dreams before they fell asleep to the lilting sounds of a story well read. you hope the text, the love of language, the words tumbling across a page will stay with them forever. so you read and you read. they fall asleep. you kiss them goodnight on their sweet foreheads whispering how much you love them. soveryverymuch. again.
xxoo. 

22 comments:

  1. An utterly beautiful post. I have three boys too, I know how it is. So many of these moments happen here too, especially the eldest going in to school without saying goodbye. Oh, boys, boys, lovely boys.

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    1. Oh thanks so much CJ! The merry circle of boys never ends. I am so glad I am not the only one to have a teen just off to school everyday without saying goodbye. xo

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  2. Love every bit of this. x

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  3. So glad I took the time to sit down and read this. Beautiful. :)

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  4. I really like this one - just the other day we were enjoying dinner on a patio with some friends and my oldest chose to sit on my lap for a bit. Such a reminder that they are still"little". We also still snuggle in and read for hours. I have never been able to cut this special time short. Thank you for a beautiful read as we head off to bed ourselves.
    Chey xo

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    1. I am glad I am not the only one who cannot cut this reading time short. I a, not sure what I will do when it does ends Sigh. Raising boys is really it's own dance isn't it? xo

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  5. This is great!
    Isn't it funny ... you can live on opposite sides of the globe ... but you're still dealing with the same issues day in and day out.
    Except for "mannerless mondays" ... my boys would take that WAY too far :0)
    xx

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    1. oh mannerless mondays! Some mondays I do think it has been taken too far. But they adore it. xo

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  6. love these kind of posts, where we get glimpses into the lives of others, without necessarily feeling like some creepy spy ;) you sound like a fun and wonderful mama!

    *LOVE my chemex. love, love, love
    cheers from western north carolina~

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    1. So glad you enjoyed the small snippets of life here at our abode.
      Also so glad some one loves, loves, loves their Chemex. I happen to adore it and really most days I do have a rhythm with it -except when we are late. then I miss the simplicity of our old french press. xo

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  7. wonderful post of a day in the life of a thoughtful mama! I especially love the idea of Mannerless Monday and I know two monkeys in my house who would love it, too :)

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    1. Thanks so much! If you try out Mannerless Mondays please let me know how it goes! I think I should also make it a global food night, where if they get to eat with their hands, perhaps they will actually try it! xo

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  8. I quickly read this post a couple of days ago, noting that I would have to come back and read it again, slowly, when I had the time to linger over the words...so glad i came back this morning before the hustle of the day begins, to spend some time with this post. so poetic, so true, so real...all those things i like about your writing...thank you!

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    1. Thanks Lisa for your sweet words. I love when folks say they like to linger over my words. It makes me smile. xo

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  9. I just sent this post to my mum. It is so wonderfully honest I just know it will make her day tearing around after my two little brothers all the more enjoyable. I just love your space. x

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    1. Oh Imogen, I take that as the highest compliment. xo

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hello there! I love it so when you leave a bit of a note to let me know how you are and what you are thinking. I always love to hear about the things inspiring you and moving you through your day.

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