Sexy Mother Runner: Confessions Of A Run-Away Housewife

I never have to stop and ask myself why I run. The reasons are many. I'm reminded of them often. Sometimes several times in one day. I run for health, both physical and mental. I run to relieve stress. I run for the pure joy of it. I run because it makes me stronger. I run to spend time with friends. I run to get away from my life for a while.

Restore Your Sanity

Run Like Crazy

Also, I run because I have children, two of which are small. And though some people may very well have perfect children, I do not. They are pretty much run of the mill. They make messes, whine, tattle, yell, fight with each other, snuggle, give lots of hugs, like to help, play and cuddle together, tell me they love me every day, drive me crazy one minute and melt my heart the next. Friday was more 'drive me crazy' and less 'melt my heart'...

My day started out pretty average. Fixed breakfast for my two youngest ankle-biters, got my coffee, sat down with my laptop to read the Featured Runner Friday. Danyelle was in charge of posting Anna's story so I had not read it yet. Which was kind of a nice treat actually, getting to read it the same time as all of you 'awesome people who follow our blog'.

So when did things start that slow slide into Hell? Right after lunch.

We are in the middle of a room switch. Sounds simple enough, or it did when Fred and I first talked about it. Switch his office with the kids' bedroom. Easy cheesy. Then it festered and grew into this ridiculous project that has taken over our whole house. Pair that with an unhealthy love of HGTV and the DIY channel and we are now looking like candidates for an episode of Hoarders. This didn't all happen Friday after lunch, it's been on going. I'm just giving you a baseline reading of the insanity that I was already dealing with going into 'Friday after lunch'.

So, here goes... My 18 year old, Taylor, was actually home for lunch, a rarity. She offered to help with the clearing and painting of the bedroom. Another rarity. We had all just had our lunch which was everyone's favorite (except my son), grilled cheese sandwiches w/ tomato soup. My 6 year old must be going through a growing spurt again because she chowed her soup and sandwich and asked for more. I gave her half of my sandwich and the rest of my soup. Then cleared the dishes and all that good stuff.

I was heading into the bedroom to finish clearing stuff out when I spot my 4 year old son standing in the bathroom with no pants on. He looked up at me with that adorable yet obviously-guilty-of-something look on his face. I've come to know this look well. Then he shut the linen closet doors. That's when I noticed some sort of 'liquid' on the floor in drops. Hmmmm.... the following conversation went as follows.

Me: Did you pee on the floor?

D: Uh, no?

Me: Did you pee on the floor? Is that pee?

D: Oh. Just a little bit. I'll clean it up. (he grabs a towel off the counter)

Me: No, I'll clean it up. Why is it there? Did you pee anywhere else? (by this time Taylor has joined us)

D: No. I just peed a little on the floor.

At this point two things are dawning on me.

1. My son is a terrible liar.

2. He closed the linen closet door awfully quick when I first walked in... the laundry chute is in our linen closet.

Me: Did you pee down the laundry chute? (Taylor stifles a giggle and opens the linen closet door. Then she gasps which pretty much lets me know that this is indeed an awesome day.)

D: What will happen if I did?

Me: Did you pee down the laundry chute?

D: Yes...

I put him in timeout in the corner and begin to try and figure out how exactly one goes about washing the inside of a laundry chute. Taylor shuts the bathroom door so that her brother can't see or hear her giggling.

My 6 year old knocks on the door and says, "Why is D in timeout? Did he pee in the laundry chute? Can I have the rest of his grilled cheese since he's in the corner? It's getting cold and he won't eat it cold but I will. Can I have it?"

I'm not at a point where I can yet find humor in the situation. Taylor, however, continues to laugh and says to me, "Well, at least you have something new to blog about." Normally she throws in some sort of comment like, "This is why you should have stopped having children after me." She didn't throw that in there though and I can only speculate that her self-preservation instincts had kicked in.

This little episode is a big reason why I run. As a stay-at-home-mom, life can sometimes feel so overwhelming you don't know whether to cry in a corner or run away. I choose to run away, 3-4 times a week. I know I'm a better mom for it because, well, because my children manage to survive these kinds of incidents unscathed.