Hello there. Yeah, I'm talking to you. This is a new way of writing for me, and it just struck me to write this. I did not get it edited, sorry I'm not sorry. Most of the time I find the stuff I write on the fly doesn't mesh well with an editor. I do apologize for the short length, though. I do usually try to make them longer than this. But again, it just sort of sprang onto the screen. I've never actually written anything like this, so any constructive criticism is welcome. I really do like to know what you think... of the writing, that is. Again, this is the closest I've ever gotten to train-of-thought from a character. So be gentle. Ish.
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My typical day starts with waking up to one or more children climbing into bed with me and my husband to make sure we know that it is morning and that it is now time to get up because they are hungry. I'm lucky if I can shut my eyes for another five minutes, but it usually doesn't happen. Before you start thinking that my husband, Jim, gets to go back to sleep I would like to tell you to stop. Our routine is that we
both
get up with the kids. We both make breakfast, and then we both help the kids get ready for school before we start getting ready for work. We have two kids, and there are two of us. It makes sense that the responsibility is shared. By the time we have the kids all ready for school, the neighbor's girl has shown up at the door and is ready to help them get on the bus. We then have about fifteen minutes to get ready and get on the road. Make-up takes me no time, flat. I have this down to an art, folks.
You should be able to imagine the relief when, on a rare weekend, the kids actually sleep in and me and the hubs can get some much-needed alone time. This alone-time is usually interrupted by one or both kids banging on the door to make sure that we know it is locked and that they are HUNGRY. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
"Get married," they said. "Have kids like us," they said. "It will be fun."
Fuck them with a dull knife... in the neck. No, I wouldn't change any of the choices I have made. I love my husband and I love my kids. Sometimes, though, I just want a day where it all goes away.
Last week, I got that day. Surprise! My mother-in-law, who I am pretty sure is the wife of Satan himself but don't let my kids know that's what I think of their dear Nana, decided to pop in for a visit. Not just any visit, either. No! She was taking the kids back with her for the weekend. Who is this sainted woman who showed up on my doorstep promising Peace and Silence? And what did she do with my actual wife-of-Satan-himself mother-in-law? Because, quite frankly, she needs to do this shit more often.
I threw clothing into a duffel bag and slung the kids in her car through the window. What? They liked it. I'm not even sure if the clothing I sent them with was clean. Or theirs. But I didn't care. I was kid-free for an entire weekend and neither of us had to work! This kind of thing just does not happen to normal people like us.
Jim came in after the whirlwind had left with our offspring and just kind of blinked as he looked around, "I think I'm going deaf."
"No, honey," I said, smiling and probably looking more than a little hysterical. "That's the sound of silence. You don't remember it. It's been gone for too long. But we used to have this sound a lot."
"It must have been nice back then," he looked dazed. I know I felt dazed and a little confused, but I wasn't complaining. "So, what are we going to do?"
I stood, gaping at him. What were we going to do? We hadn't had a kid free weekend in so long that we had forgotten how to be normal human beings. I could lay out in the back yard naked and there wouldn't be any little voices reminding me that someone might see my pee-pee place. I could go shopping and get all of the errands done in less than a quarter of the normal time. Hey, don't laugh. You try grocery shopping with two kids. It takes half an hour just to get them out of the damn car, and don't even mention going into the store. It's a fucking nightmare at the best of times. Shopping without them would be like a vacation in Hawaii. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"
"I don't remember how to have fun." He looked like this might make him cry. Then I realized I didn't remember how to have fun either, and how I had just thought that going shopping without my tiny terrors would be a vacation.
"Want to go for a drive? We used to do that, didn't we? Just drive around downtown and see if we could find somewhere new?"
"I think we did. It seems so long ago."
"Remember the strip club we went to at noon that one day? That was fun."
"I think I'm too old for a strip club. But we can drive and see what we can find."