In case you think I’ve got it all together, let me just share a little story…
It all started at 5:30am when I woke to the shrill beep of a malfunctioning smoke detector. I shot up, confused and disoriented.
Then, terror of terrors, I felt movement next to me. I looked over to see the two year old. How’d you get here? And please, please, don’t wake up.
A few minutes later, Beep, Beep, Beep! That did it. Up went the two year old. And if you know anything about two year olds, once they’re up, they’re up.
Later in the morning (but still ridiculously early) as I was reading my Bible, I heard a car alarm go off. I chuckled to myself and thought, oops, Steph hit the wrong button. It went off for what seemed like a long time, but I didn’t think much of it.
As I was making a birthday breakfast for my 13 year old, I got a text from my friend who lives on our property with us, in our renovated shed. “Can you come to the palace please?”
For some reason I thought, uh oh she found a dead cat.
Nope, not even close. She had somehow torqued her knee when she set off her car alarm and was in searing pain. I ended up driving her to Lakeville while my kids finished and enjoyed the birthday breakfast. After an appointment for her knee I dropped her at work.
The afternoon passed mildly enough except Lukas complained of not feeling well. He fell asleep on the couch for a while so I figured that would help him.
Andrew got home with Steph, who he had retrieved from work. She hobbled her way to the couch to rest her swollen knee.
The girls headed off to a birthday party and Andrew took some kids in the pool. I was washing dishes when Steph needed to move to bed so I helped her get situated. I made my way back to the house to finish dishes.
I saw a text had come through. “We’ll be there in the morning to take down your trees”. Okay, quick pivot. Time to clean the yard so they can get to the trees.
I walked outside to tell Andrew who then started attempting to get kids out of the pool. Eloise wanted to go with me, as she always does, so we walked to the barn to get the Ranger. I told her to climb in and as I walked around to the other side I noticed the tires were flat. I climbed in and something hit me. I asked “what’s that smell?”
Eloise replied, “I don’t know.” I figured I was smelling the sheep pen.
Over to the garage we went to fill the tires. Of course nothing is as easy as it should be and I couldn’t find the attachment for the air compressor to fill the tires. So I searched around and headed back to the Ranger to see if it was in there.
As I approached Eloise said, “I cleaning it off, Mama.”
“Cleaning what off?” I asked.
“This,” she replied as she held up her hands.
Well, I quickly figured out what the smell had been. She had stepped in dog poo on the way to the Ranger, had smeared it on the seat when she climbed in, and then had proceeded to “clean it” by wiping it with her hands…all over.
Quick pivot once again. Tires are still flat.
Scoop up two year old and hold out at arms length. Strip. Scrub. Wipe down the entire Ranger. Three times. Scrub shoes. Burn off hands. (Not really, but it felt like maybe I should.)
Meanwhile, Maddie showed up with Heidi, who proceeded to come to the parent scrubbing a naked two year old on the porch. Because, you know. They all come to mom. “I don’t feel very good.”
“Uh, I can’t deal with you right now. Go to bed if you don’t feel good,” I grumbled as I scrubbed.
Meanwhile Andrew found the attachment and filled the tires.
Meanwhile my phone and Andrew’s phone had been ringing.
Suddenly I hear Steph’s voice. “Sarah!”
Shocked, I looked up. Sure enough, there’s Steph in the yard, on her crutches. Steph, who should be laying in bed with her knee up. Steph, who couldn’t have easily gotten out of bed on her own but somehow managed it.
“Maddie’s in the ditch!” Steph yelled.
“I’m sorry, what???” I replied.
“She’s in a ditch just down the road, she says she’s fine but can’t get out.”
“ANDREW!!! Maddie’s in the ditch!”
He poked his head out of the garage. “Huh?”
“She’s in the ditch. You have to go get her out.”
“Ooookay.” My sweet hubby rolls with so many punches. I was a little shocked at how smoothly he just transitioned and walked over to his car and got in. At this point in the evening I had felt like I had lost my mind and he just hopped in his car like someone asked him to go get ice cream.
After all the cleaning, I kept moving things in the yard and Andrew returned. He had gotten the car out and Maddie was on her way again. All I could do was look at Andrew and ask, “what the heck just happened? And what else could possibly…”
“Don’t even say it!” He interrupted. Seriously, don’t ask it. Don’t even think it. That was enough for one day, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it??? We chuckled. If we don’t laugh, we’ll cry some days.
So, you know, just in case you may think I have all my ducks in a row, I don’t. I don’t even have ducks. I have wild, feral, rabid beasts circling one another fighting for who will pounce first.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a long night’s sleep. Of course, I’ll probably get a few hours punctuated by tiny feet to the kidneys, but hey, it’s something.
Thankfully not every day is like today. And when it is hard, God sustains. Like today. I walked into the palace and said, you won’t believe what just went down! And Steph listened and laughed hard and that made me laugh and then she handed me gummy bears. So, you know, all in all, it ended well. “Emotional support gummy bears” she called them. I’m beginning to think everyone should have a stash of those. Because you just never know what might hit you!
Desired Haven Farm 