Here's the thing. You know how when you poke an anthill, a geyser of ants erupts? Suddenly, the whole thing is teeming with ants? And it's instant, as if they just appeared there? Then, you can't imagine that a second ago, this was just a mound of earth with no ants at all?
So that's totally how my life was a week ago. After I survived Tuesday, I went about my daily business Wednesday until suddenly my parents appeared. Even though it was only two people, it seemed the activity level increased geometrically. Then Thursday, we added M's dad to the mix, and suddenly we had an anthill. It wasn't bad or anything...just abuzz. I come from a small family, and I am not used to 7 conversations happening at the same time. Two grown ups are talking about politics, two grown ups are making plans for lunch, one grown up is negotiating with the birthday boy about presents, one kid is screaming because no one is talking to him. Chaos! I'm just not used to it. Plus, when my mother is here, my children can do no wrong by her. Which is nice for them, because that's what grandmothers are for, but it's irritating to me for two reasons: 1) There's no WAY I ever got away with anything and 2) My children give me this nah-nah look, which makes me want to wring their little necks. The look is simultaneously triumphant and manipulative. It bugs me.
So, we ate well, we drank well, we visited, and now I am in total post-trauma mode. I have this thing about house guests. No matter who they are or how long they stay, I have this impulse to scrub my house when they leave. All day Tuesday, I mopped, scrubbed, laundered, organized, and vacuumed away every body's existence from my house. It's nutsy, but then again, what isn't? Tuesday night everything was done, did my usual crazy Tuesday with the kids, and then yesterday, hung out with S, who was out of school thanks to the Jewish New Year. ACK! So long as it's celebratory, let's just go ahead and send everyone to school to ring in the new year, okay? But no. Yesterday, we watched TV, snacked, and ushered in Rosh Hashannah with Dora and Diego. It's ok if your kids watch TV when you watch it with them, right??
Today, things are mostly normal again. But tomorrow, there is E's birthday party. I can hardly think of anything more appropriate for the party than the migraine maker at the local petri playhouse. It's a good thing Yom Kippur is coming up. I'm going to have something to atone for after tomorrow.
ahhh, explains why you were unreachable yesterday when I had no children and wanted to have lunch! Glad you had a good visit with your ants.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good impulse, scrubbing the place down after house guests. I know that every time I visit you, for example, I like to hide strains of flesh-necrotizing bacteria all over your guest room. I realize that's not the most gracious thing a guest can do, but I learned a long time ago to stop beating myself up over every little thing.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are back. I missed reading your blog for whole week. I was going through withdrawals. Or maybe those were martini hangovers. Either way....
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