I laughed so hard with some girls this morning about two things in particular. 1. The wrinkles that form above our nose in between our eye brows when we are stressed out and 2. When there are more piles of clean clothes around the bedroom than dirty.

This is funny because I discovered that I am not the only one who finds myself desperately pushing my fingers into my forehead in an effort to smooth out said wrinkles. What a relief! And, my tireless attempts at finding an outfit for my guys in a pile of clean clothes is not an exclusive to my household! Yes, of course, I aught to just put them away to find them nicely folded in their drawers each time. But come on, who are we kidding? I don’t have time for that!  

It feels good to be able to have these sorts of things in common with my peers. But that’s not all. You see, while laughing with these girls about our own short comings, I still had the dreaded vision of the current state of my house looming in the back of my mind. Every day this week, I look at it. The toys strewn about; the pile of shoes at the back door; the stack of library books on the stairs…I could go on, but let me keep my pride somewhat in tact. So, I look at it. I bug out a little. I look away. I look at it again. I bug out a little again. I look away again. Look. Bug out. Look away. It’s a cycle. The old song Look Away by Chicago comes into my mind right now and seems oddly appropriate. “If you see me walking by, and the tears are in my eyes, walk away, baby walk away…” I would walk away, but the problem is every where I walk. My best bet is to just look away…but then, I’m at the point where I might just have to look up, because Legos can’t stick to the ceiling…thank goodness. Right now, the ceiling is just nice and white…oh except for the crack in the kitchen that I believe just comes from the house settling. I can’t fix that right now. I have whats on the floor to deal with.

Here’s what happened when I arrived home this morning and my loving husband came to greet us at the door.

Me: I surrender! (I said this while kicking off my boots and setting them next  to the already established pile of shoes, as if that small gesture was my way of exhibiting some control over the situation).

Him: To what?

Me: The house!

Him: The house won, then?

Me: Yes!

Oh house, you provide needed shelter; a place for my family to love and to grow; a place for friends to gather and to fellowship. All of these wonderful things. I cannot keep up, however. One day there won’t be Legos on the floor, books in the stairs and piles of shoes at the back door and I’m certain I will miss it terribly. So, alas, I take a deep breath, pick it up as best I can, and wait for it to all be pulled right back out again.

House: 1 Me: 0