Barbara’s Bulletin #2: The Chaos
Last night was Bob’s first night working from home. He had a printed packet full of wonderfully detailed instructions. On the cover of the packet was a little doodle of a man sitting in a lounge chair with a computer in his lap and a hot cup of coffee on a little table beside him.
Yay working from home is great! You can enjoy all the comforts of your own home while still putting in your 8 hours. What could possibly go wrong? Welp, sit down in that comfy chair, rest your lap top on your lap and take a sip of that nice hot coffee because I’m about to ruin that picture perfect work from home image for you.
I had plans in place for when Bob was going to start working from home. I cleaned the play room and organized crafts and toys. I even put together a little tent, which distracted the kids for all of 20 minutes.
I had visions of Adam and Lydia excitingly opening their new organic bath bombs and begging to take baths a little early. My goal was to tuck them in at 9:00 and read story after story. All of this would go down while Bob was quietly working.
Oh how wrong I was.
My little mama’s girl, Lydia, had suddenly changed. She screamed and ran whenever I even tried to go near her. Only daddy could get her a snack, only daddy could turn on the TV, only daddy could help her play trains, only daddy could give her a bath. All she could say was Daddy.
Adam was a little more crafty. He listened to me at first. He took a bath, brushed his teeth and put on his pajamas. Then he started wheeling and dealing. He asked to sleep on the couch so he could be with Daddy all night long. He just wanted to hold daddy’s brand new work phone for one minute just to see how cool it was.
I desperately tried to put my emergency car ride plan into action. I even tried to bribe the kids into the car with promises of McDonald’s. I whispered to Adam that we could go for a ride and get a secret treat, but nothing would pry them away from the angel come to Earth called Daddy.
Luckily Bob’s job was understanding of the situation. The kids even got to say hi to all of Daddy’s friends on a conference call. Then Bob stepped away for about 20 minutes to give Lydia a quick bath and help me tuck both kids into bed.
Once the kids were in bed, they didn’t try to sneak out and see daddy. I’m glad that they settled down for the night and went to sleep. I’m grateful that I had the time to sit in silence and reflect on the day.
Xoxo
Babs
