Remembering my sunglasses are on top of the fridge at the last minute as i'm shuffling out the door with a 6 kilo nappy bag, a 10 kilo toddler with breakfast still on his face, a sobbing 3 year old who doesn't want to leave her blankie at home, and an indignant 5 year old who wants to go and play at her friends house all day instead of do the groceries with her Mum, is enough to drive me bonkers. I think I scare the Postie with my licensed-to-kill look as he scoots up onto the grass i've slowly nurtured and babied to an almost acceptable shade of green.
We push on, and i surprise myself with the patience that blesses me as i try and get 3 kids out of the car and into the trolley with minimal sweating and complaining. It lasts through to the end of the grocery list, and we've managed to only damage 2 things, which i'm sure we can find uses for anyway. Then comes the dreaded checkout, and we are stuck between someone who has managed to pick up every item in the store which has no tag, and someone who obviously thinks my kids are hillarious, laughing when my toddler throws the bag of onions out of the trolley, which encourages him to throw more. I smile politely, chasing onions all over the floor and waiting for a wedge of pumpkin to hit me in the back of the head, looking up in time to see the other two kids load up on chocolate bars from the confectionary stand that i've parked the trolley too close to. Its an understatement to say i'm relieved as i battle a trolley that just wants to go left, a load of kids and my own weight in groceries accross the sloping parking lot.
The afternoon wears on, a blur of arguments and tears and screams of 'i don't want a bath', 'she hit me', 'i'm hungry' and 'when's Daddy coming home?'. My patience perseveres and eventually it's bedtime. We argue about going to bed, i try to be encouraging, i promise a fun and exciting day tomorrow if only sleep can be achieved, and after a 30 minute 'discussion' i win. They fight sleep admirably, until finally i check and their eyes have closed, probably involuntarily and much to their disgust.
Ahh, blessed silence.
I feel worn out, ready to sleep for 3 days straight, and glad that the groceries last a whole fortnight. It seems like a crazy daily existence, where i remember some things, but forget heaps. I get alot right, but get plenty wrong too. I manage alot of housework, but have to decide what to let slide. I get minimal time to myself, and what i do have is shared with my husband. It's a loud, sticky, exhausting life.
But it's the excitement in their faces when i pull out a 'Go-Gurt' (Yogurt in a tube) at the end of the day to treat them for 'behaving at the shops' (which is code for not running screaming up and down the isles or damaging more produce than i can afford to buy) that has me thinking 'that wasn't so bad'.
Its like a cup full of sanity.
Its the squeals of delight as they mush down more of my hard earned green lawn that has me thinking 'Bugger the lawn'.
It's like an injection of patience.
It's the moments when they can't be without each other, even though they fight about every little thing. Just a little bit of love.
And its that tiny little smile on that tiny little face when your day reaches it's end and you're ready to be committed. Ahh, there it is, I believe i've just found it again. That right there is Satisfaction.
So i hope today, amid the chaos that is life, you manage to find time to love those little things, and find your little peice of Satisfaction.
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