She came in to see them playing in the office. The Blonde and the Brunette had spread out a blanket on the floor with little blue tea cups and a red sand bucket filled with treasures they had collected from the play room. It was endearing to see them playing so well together. Being nice sister friends is what the mother had begun to call it.
The Blonde looked up, “We’re playing beach mommy.”
“I see that,” the Mother replied, “but you need to play that in the play room not in mommy’s office.
The Brunette remains silent…….as she is clearly just along for the ride…. and delighted to be included in one of the Blonde’s games. The blonde shrugged and she threw a smile towards the door.
“Okay, mommy” she replies and begins picking up the props. That was easy…..the Mother thought….as she headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Dinner in a home with small children is a battleground. In order to survive similar techniques used in hostage negotiation must be applied. You need a lot of mental stamina to endure. Worst case scenario a sort of Stockholm Syndrome can occur but that’s a discussion for an entirely other day.
The Mother is entering a preparatory headspace. Preparing for the battle ahead the mother is almost completely sure the expression It’s 5 o’clock somewhere has much less to do with the end if an employes day and cocktails, and significantly more to do with the fact that toddlers and subsequently their parents will be enduring an evening meal made much less stressful by the drink mother’s abroad may or may not now find in their hand.
The meal is ready…..and the Mother hears laughter and cooperative play floating through the air from the playroom into the kitchen…and smiles. The Mother takes the moment to run downstairs and retrieve the Boy from the basement. Like a good son, he has been playing Star Wars Legos unsupervised for an hour, and based on the indentation in the sofa it reveals he has likely not moved once from his perch.
The Mother smiles and returns up stairs only to look into the play room….time stops…..the theme music George Lucas surely approved for Darth Vader’s formidable entrances starts to play in her head and her eyes lock with the blonde. Dun, dun, da, dun….dun, da, dun, da…da, da, dun.
Piles of sand….they had relocated from the outdoor sandbox…. were all over the carpet.
The Mother blinks….the Blonde smiles…..the Brunette whips around and laughs.
The Mother realizes……in all fairness….. she did tell then they could play beach in the playroom.
The Motherhood in Technicolor Memo: Motherhood is not always easy, but then again the most rewarding things in our lives never are. At the end of our journey, parents must weigh the good with the bad, and hopefully take delight in the finished product. Motherhood lived in technicolor reminds me……it’s not about perfection……it’s all about perspective!
Summer Smith is a speaker, writer, and motherhood blogger. She and her family are currently navigating the suburbs of Northern Virginia. As the mother to four young children, Summer maintains her sanity thanks to her sense of humor, copious amounts of coffee, and Amazon Prime. Maya Angelou once said, when reflecting on her childhood, that her mother left an impression like technicolor stars in the midnight sky. Influenced by these words, Summer blogs at her website Motherhood in Technicolor, and can also be found on her Motherhood in Technicolor Facebook page.