The other day I cut Barry’s hair in the kitchen while the girls went between watching us and playing a game in the other room. Because I’m not a hair stylist, I cut Barry’s hair while he’s in his undies. It makes for quick and easy clean up, and he can hop right into the shower. As I swept the extra hair up off the ground, Barry went to get in the shower. As it often goes, I was focusing on the task-at-hand and since nobody was crying I assumed all was well.
And it was. I wasn’t wrong in my assumption, but as I walked down the hall to our bathroom, I could hear the chatting voices of Maggie and Audrey over the rush of the shower water. The door was wide open and Maggie was on the toilet (doing #2), Audrey was at her feet rolling around on the ground enjoying a new rug, and Sydney was wedged in between the two of them because Maggie was eating a string cheese (yes, while doing #2….maybe it might be time to have a talk with her….). They were both yell-talking to Barry, who happened to be showering and yell-talking back.
What struck me as funny, later in the day, was how normal this whole scene was. We have another small and tiny bathroom with just a toilet and sink, we call it the ‘boys bathroom,’ even though we only have one boy that lives here, so Maggie was just doing what she’d normally do. As for Audrey and Syd, huddled close by, one rolling on the ground and the other hoping for a tiny bit of cheese to fall into her mouth, their behavior was pretty typical as well. It is so rare that Barry or I get a moment to ourselves. Not a shower, not a haircut, not a #2. This means sometimes my emotions can hit me pretty hard in an unexpected way.
A morning or two after this happened, I woke up in a total and complete panic. This happens all too often lately, my chest hurts and I feel like I’m on the verge of tears….too many moments, aspects, parts of this adventure together is just going, going, going. One day I’m not going to be able to look into our bathroom and see the goodness of life, my life, squished all together. Things change, we grow, we move, life just doesn’t ever stay in a single moment. And I love that about it. I do.
Sometimes it hurts to love someone or something so much.
*Pictures taken using the timer on my camera while we stopped on our way home from a quick trip to Harrison Hot Springs. I sat in a puddle and I’m just happy that my camera didn’t fall off the hood of the car.
My grandpa and his five siblings gathered together to celebrate his sister’s birthday last month. He asked me to come and take a few pictures of the occasion and I’m finally getting a moment to go through them. It’s pretty amazing that all six siblings are alive and able to travel, considering various ages and health concerns. Three of the six live out of state, so there as a significnant amount of travel involved. But for family, an effort was put forth and they all enjoyed being together in a unique and special way.