Saturday, December 19, 2009

shh...enjoy the loud



Life with boys is loud. Out of control in a sort of smack-fest, you're the worst brother ever, I hate you, rubber band gun fight, Christmas crazies, incessantly kicking the bottom of the bunk kind of way.

That's why it doesn't surprise me when in pictures, certain shots might look like they are trying to tear off each others ears.



Life here is insane. Crazy. Did I mention loud? Loud, like I'm pretty sure if a tornado ever goes through, the roaring tell-tale train sound from the wind will just be static underneath the decibels at which our house operates within.

I won't lie - sometimes I get crabby.I have been known to summon Freak Out Monster Mama...who is not unlike the Kraken (sea monster), who will swallow you up whole and drag you under the sea if provoked. Trust me, its not pretty. It generally starts with a look like this:



and heads south. Really fast.

I hate those days. Days where Thing 1 and Thing 2 band together as their own monstrous force to do what I refer to as "GUMS and PHO" (or Get Under Mom's Skin and Piss Her Off.)

I hate those days. I hate how one thing sets the rest of the day off kilter. I hate how it skews my view of everything. I hate what it does to me.
December has had a lot of those days.
I'm all for honesty, so I want you all to know that last week I was in fact laying in my bed all crabby and Krakenish, fresh out of ideas on how to deal, and even a little bit I'm-so-frustrated-I-think-I'm-gonna-spit-tears over the insanity, chaos, and random yuck of it all.

I'm sure no one reading this blog has ever had a day like that. ;)

Nevertheless...Perspective, that darling, she eventually comes. And through visits with friends in real life, and reading writings of friends in blog land here and here...I can get up off the bed and put the Evil Krakenish Mama away.

Yes, we need boundaries.
Yes, some form of structure is a decent thing.
Yes, mutual respect is necessary to co-exist.

But aside from that...I am being way too serious for Christmas.
Perhaps even for most days.
It's just Life, right?
I don't want to believe we are here to sulk, be crabby, dwell on The Crappier Side of Life, keep tabs on what's wrong, or beat ourselves up for not being able to fix something out of our control.
We are here to learn and explore and taste and imagine and invent and wrap ourselves up in the good things around us and explode into silvery bits of Light.

Shh...let it be.
And enjoy the noise.

** Check out this super hilarious (and sweet) post about raising boys. If you're the only female in a family of all boys/men...you will understand.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOVE that post...had to share it on my FB (lots of fellow cohorts who also deal with those darling little testosterone-laden he-devils). Just a slight comfort...it DOES get quieter...and a slight disclaimer...but even more dramatic. . . as they age. Hang in there!

Stephanie said...

When it's bad - tail-spinning into a funk kind of bad, Eric and I always remind each other to "Remember Rule #6!!"

Amy Dingmann said...

I shall from now on adhere to rule #6. Thanks!!

Sarah said...

I have had a lot of days like this lately....I try to pull back and look at the big picture...the stress I am under and the fact that it is cold and sunless and that doesn't do well with my emotional health. My mood makes my boys go even crazier, a vicious cycle....

Perspective is good.

and that raising boys post was great!

Anonymous said...

I hear ya! I have 2 boys and a girl. I cannot imagine anything louder and rowdier(is that a word) than my boys.

I love "GUMS and PHO". Priceless.