if i backpack somewhere, can i be back before lunch?

Remember when you were younger and you thought that when you "grew up" and moved out, you'd be able to do whatever you liked, and your life would be like the show Friends? Every day would be a laugh, there would be interesting things happening all the time, and your friends would have nothing nothing more important to do with their time than hang out at your house where everyone could keep each other entertained with clever witticisms and stories of all the interesting situations they had been finding themselves in? And you'd spend this time wearing really cute comfy clothes and drinking neat hot drinks out of cute mugs?

Remember when you were going to graduate from high school and backpack somewhere?

The other night I dreamed that Mitchell spilled his milk into his high chair tray. I had to take the top part of the tray off to clean the milk up from under it. Some milk dripped down the side of the island. I was really annoyed.

The highlight of today was that Mitchell didn't throw up. And I remembered to buy two bottles of hand lotion in addition to the hand lotion I had already so that I could put one by each of the three sinks I have upstairs so that anytime we wash our hands we can lotion right away and avoid some of the bleeding knuckles this winter. It's very exciting.

They never cleaned toilets on Friends.

That being said, I do actually have some great friends here in town, who do actually phone me up from time to time to see if I want company for an hour. We watch the kids play, we drink tea (or latte's, thanks Amy!!), someone might bake something. We talk about the kids' poo, throw up, "the latch", how other people are teaching their kids dumb habits. Because we definitely have the insight to recognize the dumb habits we teach our kids, and stop doing it.

We all have to be home by lunch, or nap time, or school pick-up time.

Somebody little usually stinks up the room at least once.

Then we all scatter back to our own homes and I make lunch, wipe up spills, chase the younger ones to bed, maybe watch some Ellen or clean something. I think up an excuse to call Steven to ask him a question or tell him something that can't possibly wait for 5:15 just so I can hear his voice for a minute, even if I can tell that half the time he's a little annoyed that his phone rang when he was doing something that was just oh-so-important. He loves me, he deals. I'll call my mom, or a distant friend. I'll break up fights and hug someone better. I'll wipe bums about fifteen times a day.

I've never backpacked anywhere. I've never flown off to a different continent for a wedding or a fancy holiday. I haven't seen much of the world, but two four little people I am the world. That's pretty cool.

Did you know that lego isn't as much fun without me? Or so I heard today.

I married my second boyfriend (my first serious one). I still like him. I can't see that changing anytime soon.

I'm a phone tree captain in case of some sort of school emergency or cancellation or very important information that needs to get out right away.

I manage diaper gym, for all the managing it needs.

I play online scrabble with a friend. Every once in a while I'll check to see if it's my turn to put up a new word.

I suppose it's not a very dazzling existence, but it's my life and I like it! Oh sure, maybe not the milk on the floors or the puke on the beds or the fact that me sitting down to nurse a baby has laxative-like effects on the stomachs of every other little person in this house. But the other stuff? Making cookies for the kids to ice (very soon!), buying popcorn for popcorn strings, having morning tea with a friend, bundling everyone up for play group, waiting for the hubby to come home at the end of the day? Yep, liking all of that.