For Better or Worse

When you get married, you make vows to each other - to love, honor, cherish each other in sickness & health, for richer or poorer, in good times and bad. When you have children, you make the same vows to your children. You promise to take care them no matter what - when they are sick, whiny, tired, sad, happy, no matter how old they are. Some days those vows are easier to keep. Today was not one of those days. Husband is out of town so I'm outnumbered. The morning started with Sara moving slower than molasses before getting on the bus. Christian decided instead of doing gymnastics during his gymnastics class he would rather pummel his little buddy the whole time. Luckily, the little dude could stand up for himself and dish it right back. Next on my agenda was helping at Sara's Brownie troop meeting. Three adult against 15 hyper 7 & 8 year old girls. I knew we had met our match. Chaos reigned supreme. Then we decided to case our neighbor's garage sale. Sara and Christian thought it was a free for all - grab everything you can and run for it. Nope, sorry, kids. We are not buying 56 stuffed animals and every toy the three girls own. The next tragedy I inflicted on my poor, long-suffering children was making them leave. They took off and hid better than Osama bin Laden. With the promise of dinner, dessert and reminding them we will see their friends again in 2 days, we were on our way. Dinner, 2 baths and 2 bedtimes were all that remained between me and peace and quiet. Saying that trying to get a 2 year old boy out of his bubble bath is difficult is the understatement of the century. Getting a 7 year old to put down her new fairy book is even harder. Eventually, I was home free. Yes!!! Peace, quiet and bad TV await me. I settled in with my laptop and prepared to fritter away the night. Suddenly, I hear little footsteps behind me. Yup, a thunderstorm has rendered my daughter incapable of sleep. When threatened with loss of many cherished privileges, she discovered she was utterly exhausted and bid me good night. Today was not "for better". Hopefully, tomorrow with be better.