Ah, Sunday.... the day commonly accepted as the one day of the week that you don't go on errands, you don't have to go to work, you don't have appointments, you worship with your religion of choice, and generally recuperate from the week ~ after a lovely traditional Sunday pot roast dinner. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Bliss! I can almost feel Calgon taking me away.
Now. Ready to come back to reality? Let me tell you about Sunday at the Monster House, in all it's monstrous glory. Sundays are generally a flurry of activity beginning between 8 and 9 in the morning. Breakfast is a hurried affair.... gargantuan bags of brightly and artificially colored and flavored cereals materialize on the counter amid warnings of "Do NOT eat that in your Sunday clothes!" Milk is spilled, babies wake up, and the Daddy and the Momma are still half glazed over, wishing desperately for more sleep even while popping bread in the toaster for the twinnies. Breakfast bowls are stacked precariously in the general vicinity of the kitchen sink and the marathon begins.
The Momma starts hunting for socks that match, so the boys won't be wearing white athletic socks with their dark slacks....again. Monsters dart in all directions, looking for that elusive other shoe, crying about missing slips, dress shirts, hair accessories, book bags, or scriptures. Without fail, one monster or another will belatedly remember that they have a talk today, even though they have known about it for a month. This instigates a frantic web search for a talk while trying to comb tangles out of gorgeous long red hair, and monster #4 snarling, "You're brushing my hair, not starting a chain saw!!" By the way, Hannah Montana~ thanks so much for teaching my monsters that phrase. I hear it every day.
Finally everyone is dressed, hair is brushed and styled, shoes and socks are on, and nearly everyone has brushed their teeth and put on deodorant. Whew! We generally finish up the madness of getting ready right as the monsters' ride to church pulls up. (I stay home with the twinnies because of Logan's house arrest.) From 11-2, my monsters are in the care of a dear sweet woman who has assured her entrance to heaven through subjecting herself to the antics of monsters 1-4 for three hours, once a week. Monster #5 spends the weekends with his father, so we are treated to a quiet house one day every week! The twinnie monsterlettes like to have their morning nap from about 12-130, and I love it!
When the monsters leave, silence descends upon the Monster House, and I always drop onto the parlor sofa, savoring the quiet after a hectic morning. I listen to all the comforting noises of home: the quiet, dripping sound milk makes as it drips from the counter to the vinyl floor, the hum of the refrigerator someone forgot to close, the soothing caress of a NASCAR race coming from the big screen in the man cave, the Daddy quietly hollering at the TV screen, my cell phone ringing because someone forgot to grab their talk off the printer, twinnie monsters shrieking because we forgot to push "play" on the DVD player.
But the reason I love Sundays is because that is my official, carved in stone, don't mess with the system, day to take a nap. I love naps. Naps are the closest thing to heaven on this earth, and I refuse to give them up. I look forward to Sunday naps like a heroin addict looks forward to their next high. I start the countdown to nap time at about 8am Monday. I love sleep. I love everything about sleep. I love snuggling in warm blankets. I love wadding up two pillows just so, to fit the curve of my neck. I love closing the bedroom door and knowing that I don't have to worry about anything, because the Daddy has it covered. ( muwahahaha)
Following my nap, I get to shower, with no interruptions! No monsters come in and ask questions, no one plays with the hot water while I'm shaving my legs, and no one screams "MOM!' on Sundays.
Don't get me wrong. PLEASE. I love my monsters with all my heart and soul. They are my EVERYTHING! But I love that three hour block a week where I can sleep and shower. It's good for my mental health to have a break from responsibility. And, it's good for the monsters, too, because they feel important when they have to help the Daddy locate something in a cupboard, or tell him what Logan is saying when he signs.
I hope everyone has something they can do, or somewhere they can go, for a mental health break. It's SO important! There is time enough to be the responsible adult, and there are countless times when we all have to take one for the team, or be the voice of experience, or go to yet another specialist for our children. Three hours a week for mental health, to me, is imperative for the health of our family as a whole. It allows me to mentally recharge, and I'm SO much happier after a nap and a shower, we usually wind up watching a movie together or playing a board game, or baking cookies as a family. And those are the times I cherish and tuck away in my heart, to draw upon when life gets a little too crazy. It never fails to make me smile.
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