10 Minutes

"I just need 10 minutes alone." Every so often this is how I greet Jeremy when he comes home. Yesterday was one of those days. He came home from work to find me in the boys room trying to entertain two boys who both wanted all of me, but had to share. One just wanted me to walk him everywhere and the other insisted I help him up the slide his dad made for his bed. Both were demanding my attention in the loudest way. This was a serious competition.

There was a broken up train track taking up all the space on the living room rug, with a station for dinosaurs, one for cars, one for airplanes, and one for the evil robots trying to destroy the city. Thankfully Lightning McQueen had stopped them from utter destruction. That is until baby brother woke up. Lighting is no match for Cameron.

The refrigerator door was wide open. Eggs were broken on the kitchen floor as Ty tried to examine them while I was busy with Cam. The days dishes were piled up in the sink. Food covered the newly mopped floor as Cam became bored and dropped pieces of his dinner one by one on the ground. Evidence of a whole hearted effort to keep up with the messes caused even more clutter. The mop, swivel sweeper, broom, dustpan and even the vacuum were all left out, each having been used multiple times that day, although you'd never know it.

The toilet was clogged. What did you put down it I asked Ty over and over. "A big white thing" was his response. And with one curious push of a button, or multiple buttons being pushed all at the same time, the computer monitor went black. Still on, just black. If I only knew what buttons those were.

Up to that point it had been a great day. I'd been patient, loving, flexible, strong, giving as much of my attention to each child as I had to give and so on top of things. I took a shower and did my hair. Makeup was fully applied. I even got an hour and a half of work in while they took naps and kept up with messes. I admit, I was feeling pretty awesome. We'd had a fun day and it had been good, but now it was all going wrong and I was about to crack. I was running out of all the mom goodness I seemed to have in such abundance just minutes earlier. I guess I'd given it all that day and it was now in short supply. Oh and did I mention the smell of two poopy diapers was in the air? Why was everything falling apart so quickly?

Those evenings I wouldn't blame Jeremy if he just wanted to retreat and run from the house in horror. But instead, in those evenings, he shines. He tells me to go to my room and take ten. I climb in my bed, pull the covers over, and grab my "getaway" book. It's the book I read when I need "me" time. It's full of short stories I can finish in 10 minutes and I love them. I decide to read two. The boys are still noisy, but I'm able to block it out knowing they are in good hands. Soon they are both quiet.

Jeremy has a way of calming the boys them and making them happy that amazes me. He tells Ty to run laps around the house and he just does. I can hear his little feet as he turns the corner twenty times by my bedroom door. Cameron is playing in the hall closet, his new favorite place, I don't know why. He's taking apart puzzles.

Jeremy is doing dishes, picking up egg shells, changing diapers, putting away train tracks, unclogging toilets, fixing the computer monitor, cleaning up dinner and restoring peace in our home. In addition, he boiled the unbroken eggs and let Ty drop those on the floor so he could discover how they fall on the floor differently when cooked. Tomorrow we'll go on an outing to buy more eggs.

After my two stories and my extended 10 minute break, I feel fine. I am filled. I am ready to go back to work and play. Bring it on evil robots, broken eggs, and poopy diapers. You are no match for me. I come out of my room and all three of the sweet boys in my house look at me with love and slight concern. The look in their eyes says "are you ok mom?" And I am ok. In fact I'm better than ok. I feel awesome. I love being a mom. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Sometimes I just need 10 minutes.

I helped finish cleaning up the chaos, got the boys in pj's, loaded them in the car and we went out for one last adventure before bedtime. We explored the far reaches, hidden corners, and secret hallways at Trolley Square. We didn't find any dinosaurs or robots, but found a lot of joy in watching Ty run around, hearing Cameron laugh, eating salt water taffy, and enjoying every minute together.

Thank you Jeremy for not only giving me a break, but also put for helping pick up all the pieces while I do. I couldn't do it without you.