Embrace The Chaos

  I'm a little frustrated right now and it is a feeling most parents share. I cannot for the life of me get ahead on cleaning this house. Not one inch. Try as I might two kids are outwitting me at every turn.

  First thing this morning I recleaned the bathroom. Just two days ago I put everything back in the drawers and picked the clothes and towels up. This morning I see more clothes, whiskers, kleenexes, unused q-tips, toothbrushes, razors and who knows what else on the countertop. With a sigh, I clean the sink, counter and toilet...again. As I walk downstairs to get the mop I see the living room, which I cleaned yesterday, in disarray.

  Not just untidy but with a new glass ring on the sofa table. I guess it matches the new grease stains on the sofa from last week. There is a pop can hiding behind the curtain and as I bend to pick it up I also see wrappers from something under the chair. How did all of this get here in under 24 hours??? No one was in that room all day!

  With a louder, longer sigh, I walk into the kitchen to get some cleaner for the bathroom floor. The adjoining family room, which is constantly being cleaned, has an inflatable pool toy in the middle of the floor and a blanket is lying beside it. The Wii is on the side table, hiding the fish which haven't been fed yet, and the box of accessories on the floor scattered beneath it. 

  In the kitchen, which honestly I gave up on a long time ago, the island is buried. The countertop has both clean and dirty dishes on it and a tube of toothpaste. The coffee maker is accessible and clean. That's something I suppose. Maybe I should just have another cup and calm down.

  As I pick a shirt up off the bar stool and open the basement door, I realize that there are at least five loads of laundry waiting for me downstairs. One long drawn out sigh escapes my lips as I turn defeated back to the kitchen. How did this become our reality? When did keeping 1800 square feet clean become a full-time job? Fifteen years ago when we had our first child is when. 

  Forget the mess. Enjoy your kids. Soon they will move to their own homes and yours will be clean again. Quiet.....but clean. 

  Embrace the chaos. Perspective has hit me yet again.

  Ang