Luckily They Know Insanity When They See It

It was a regular Tuesday.  Except for the fact that there had been a lot of whining and I was feeling particularly tired.  While I tried to get some work done on the computer my son had made a mud hole in the backyard, slathered his body in his new mud, and then ran through the house...and sat on the couch.  How someone can come up with such things in a matter of a few short minutes is beyond me but the kid has skills in that area.
Anyway, my youngest took an exceptionally short nap and my oldest came home a little whiny.  And while I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner and thinking about how long it would take to scrub the floor and the couch clean, the phone rang.  It was my husband.  His car battery was dead and he needed me to come get him from work.  I looked at my muddy floor, my muddy child, my whiny children.  I looked at my pathetic start to a dinner.  I thought about how much I just wanted to lay down and take a nap.  Then I looked for the jumper cables...and I couldn't find them.  So, we drove to pick him up without them...in the car that recently had an airconditioning failure. So we drove with the windows down.

And when I picked him up I didn't really feel like talking.  And as we sat in traffic that's when the insanity started to set it. Suddenly I burst into tears.  No one had been willing to clean their room and there was mud all over the floor and the backyard looked like a toy graveyard and and and....

MY WHOLE FAMILY SAT SILENTLY

When we got home the kids didn't talk....to me at least.  But I heard them whispering to each other.  They knew mom had really cracked.  I started to make dinner and then suddenly I realized what was happening around me. The kids were cleaning!

In the backyard they were raking leaves and putting away toys. 

Then they came in and picked up the toys inside and wiped off the sticky table.

They took out the garbage! And then, the best of all....I saw my four year old on his tip toes trying to fill the mop bucket.

And then he let his baby sister help.

And by the time they were done "mopping" the floor looked muddier than ever because they had muddy feet while they mopped.

But it didn't matter.  They were beaming.  My eyes filled up with tears again when my eight year old came in and put her arms around my waist and said "Love you mom". 

And I told them what great kids they were and how much they had helped me and then after they went to bed I mopped the floor again.

Sure, they waited until I was a borderline nutcase until they decided to be charitable.  Sure, they were probably cleaning in a frantic attempt to prevent their mother from having to be commited to an institution that day.  But, they were doing it of their own free will because they wanted to help me.  They love me.  And I love them...muddy feet and all.