"But I Love It!"

  So, motherhood is lovely. Lovely and rewarding. Wonderful. It's beautiful. Beautiful and lovely. And...sometimes...it can be slightly... tiring. I should clarify that by "slightly", I mean immensely; and by "tiring", I mean so exhausting that I pray for the sweet kiss of death!
  There are often times, on any random day, when I feel a sense of exhaustion lurking but none when it grabs a hold of me so unforgivingly as the hour or so before the kids go to bed. It doesn't seem to matter how "ahead of the game" I have been all throughout the day; this time frame seems to have a mind of it's own, and it's  determined to completely dishevel me, my house, and any semblance of order we currently have.
  I often think of Reuben Feffer, in the movie 'Along Came Polly', when he takes Polly out for Indian food. Have you seen this? Oh, it's hilarious.... Reuben has a crush on Polly, so he jumps at the chance to take her out to dinner. The problem is, he lets her pick the restaurant even though he has a mild case of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
  So they are sitting there at dinner and he is sweating profusely - I mean his shirt is soaked- and he is trying to finger these little bits of food into his mouth, even as every bite is threatening to come back up. Meanwhile, she is loving the food and absolutely shoveling the stuff into her mouth.
  Finally, noticing the sweat dripping off of his face, she asks him if he's alright, and his response? "Yeah, no, I'm fine. I always react this way to spicy food. Yeah, but I love it!" I mean, the poor guy can hardly walk home without crossing his legs every other step, but Polly is worth it to him. "But I love it!" That's the line.
  See, the image I have in my head of my kids bath/ bedtime is pretty simple: they take a bath, their hair is combed, pajamas on, bed time snack, then peacefully off to bed. 
  The reality? Well, I usually lose control right as they're  getting out of the tub. One is running around naked-screaming and laughing- while the other one "needs" me to hold them. I'm searching high and low for the diaper or pajamas or whatever else I had ready two minutes ago, but have now misplaced. 
  At this point, I think the house comes alive to add whatever it can to the chaos. Books start falling off of bookshelves. Toys I haven't seen in days, make their way to every room in the house, where they can lay strategically in the middle of the floor, just waiting to trip me as I fly through, looking for the lost pajamas. Every time I go into  the kitchen, I notice there are five more dishes on the counter and in the sink than there were a few minutes before that.
  If I happen to glance in a mirror, I promptly vow to have all mirrors in the house removed immediately, because apparently, it's not only the house that is coming apart. My hair is springing free from my ponytail one frizzy piece at a time and my mascara has wandered off my lashes to sit in two black half-circles directly below my eyes. It's actually even worse if I remember that I wasn't wearing mascara that day because then, when i see those dark circles, all I can think is, "Dear God!! That's my face!"
  It's usually at this point that I flash to an image of Reuben Feffer. Sweating, panting, pretending this is normal...and all I can say is, "But  I love it!" 
  Amid all this chaos, we usually do find the missing pajamas and with a bit of wrestling, we do manage to get our kiddos into bed while reminding them that they are the best little boy and girl in the world. And then, once I get my shower (and take out my contacts), its not quite so disturbing to look in the mirror. Seriously...the mirror is not nearly as frightening when my vision is blurry.
So...try it out. The next time something is out of control- kids, bills, car trouble, hair, life... just say it. "But I love it!" Someday, when we're not chasing giggly children around and attempting to keep our house from collapsing in on us, we'll be glad that "we loved it."