a day in the life of a pixie

Or "welcome to hell, here's your accordion"

No, seriously, my life's not that bad. Sure, it starts about three hours earlier than I'd like with my phone singing Flogging Molly's peppy tunes and vibrating around my nightstand so much that I usually just get up so it won't fall and break. And, sure, the mad scramble to get lunches in bags and backpacks on backs before the big yellow bus pulls up can get the pulse racing and tempers flaring. And the mad shrieks of an angry Tyrannosaurus can cause temporary deafness and make the dog pee on the floor. But it's not TOO bad...

At least, it's nothing I'd trade for money, power or fame. Because, you see, it's me that gets to make those lunches, rather than trusting to the processed garbage the school likes to pretend is healthy. And I am the one who gets to play goalie when the baby is throwing his little round cereal bites and laughing like a hyena. When my kids have a program during the day, I get to go and take pictures certain to embarrass them in years to come.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't times I don't want to chuck it all and have my own work schedule for other people to work around. There is always a mess in my livingroom floor from having cats and a dog and a baby playing there all day long. And there are always dishes and laundry and the grocery store and bathrooms to clean and meals to cook, and if I get bored, I can strip beds to wash sheets, or go hunting for that missing library book. And, being the only stay-at-home parent out of five parents (including exes and steps), I get all the fun of appointments and practices and meetings with teachers. I like to say that the only present I want for any gift-giving occasion is one day OFF.

But my afternoons, when the baby takes a nap, in the few minutes before my husband and big kids get home, I have a second to catch my breath, put off thinking about supper, ignore the lunch dishes in the sink and just enjoy it: it's busy and messy and loud and runs entirely on the loosest, most fluid schedule. But it's my life, and I wouldn't give it up for anything.