Adventures of the Bed Skipping Kind

I sat there on the living room floor, noticing the dried cereal stuck in the carpet. I heard my two oldest girls playing in their room, instead of getting their pajamas on like they were told to do. But I just didn't care. The house was a mess, there were photos needing to be edited, events to be coordinated, and many things that I was going to wake up and be irritated at once again tomorrow. Over and over again. Don't fling your breakfast. Go to the bathroom. Please just put your shoes on! We are not having granola bars for lunch. 

This afternoon, while the younger two napped, I set legos out on a blanket in the yard under some grey summer storm clouds that were still sown shut and I told June to have a grand old time. She asked me so nicely to play with her. But I told her I really needed some time to get some work done and then I left her there to build her "zoo-ship" all by herself. "It's fine" I told myself, "kids need time alone too. It's good for her, dang it!" And then I got distracted by a million things on my computer and only got half of my work done. 

I picked a crusty cheerio out of the carpet as I thought back to the sight of June sitting alone on that blanket. I felt so sad. I feel like I can't get a grip. I think I am juggling all these balls but then I realize  I have dropped them and am merely waving my hands in the air, accomplishing nothing. Running through quick sand. Shoveling in a blizzard? All of it all at once? 

Buck was putting the baby to sleep and I heard the pajama-less girls sneaking out for some candy. And I was done. So completely done. I told them to "get over here" and they came nervously. 

"Did you know it's past your bed time?"

"Yes...."

"Well what do you say we skip it altogether?" 

"No bed time?"

"I'm feeling spontaneous." 

"What's 'spontaneous'?"

"It's when you skip bed time and go to the park at night. Hurry, go get your shoes!" 

Their eyes lit up and they, for once, got their shoes on quickly. 

We ran across the street and took to the swings. The park was ours and the warm night air reviving. The sky above was dark but off in the distance there was a final trace of blood orange oozing to the earth. We tried to touch the trees with our toes. Then we ran to the playground and I told my fellow pirates, Silver Bones and Black Parrot, that we needed to steal the ship and take it to the Caribbean. So we sailed, slid down the plank, climbed the ropes and hoisted some sails. 

As we laughed and swam back across the black river and into our little red brick ship for the night the girls begged to be pirates for the rest of the week. 

They were in bed by 10:00. A small sacrifice for a grand adventure. 

Sometimes the best times to connect are the spontaneous bed skipping times. 

And maybe tomorrow won't be so bad either.