Stacks of paperwork sit atop my desk. All hold a varying level of importance and urgency. Some take hours to complete while others only moments, nonetheless they sit. They sit underneath my cell phone that doubles as a paperweight at times. That cell phone holds multiple texts, mostly from children asking things like "will there be cookies when I get home?, can I get a puppy? I had a hard math test today so can I not do chores?, my teacher is being mean to me, etc!" What the, who the??? What kind of idiotic parents give their children phones and let them text from school?! All these texts that beg response along with the massive amount of social media messages that await answering and of course there are the CNN updates that hold grave importance - I mean really how else is one to know what the newest stupid thing is that flows from Trumps mouth? The stacks of papers, texts, messages, and urgent world news lie beside the computer that holds my emails that take on another level of heightened priority and vital life changing information.
As I plop down in my desk chair (stolen from my husbands desk ;)) I allow the sight in front of me to sink in. I ask myself "self, why can't you keep up on this?" myself replies "Self, you have a thousand children!" Oh, right! If you are wondering, yes I do have these conversations with myself often and I do refer to myself as 'self' because it sounds cool and I respond.
Summer is upon us and there in no better reminder of this than that of the gazillion messages from teachers informing me of the media books due, outstanding work, and end of the year parties and field trips that seem reasonably priced unless you have a thousand children! Whether we are the type of person that looks forward to end of school with sleeping in, no homework to check, no lunches to pack, who gives a crap if our kids wear the same clothes for a week, "I'm bored" being heard nine million times a day, or not. The fact remains that our sanity is tested during these months. For those of us who have large families (and don't homeschool - these are a whole new freakishly different kind of brave crazy cool folk) we face life choices on a huge level. Are we really pro life? Do we really not believe children should be in boarding school? The struggle is so very real.
Like most, we are planning our summer family vacation - or should I just be real and say I am planning it. My husband, bless his heart (that is what you say when you really want to say something else %$*# but you ought not) I am certain is jealous as he has to work and cannot help plan. He will wish he had helped plan the food when he sees all the Oreos we packed. Just kidding - maybe not. However, as the planning ensues with all the gory details of a vacation with a thousand children I contemplate ceasing production and calling in the in-home therapist.
Back to those waiting papers, messages, texts, and news of political blah blah blah. Oh yes and I need to make some cookies!