Chaos & Patience —Welcome to Jumanji!
Much like the famed Robin Williams hit of 1995, Jumanji, my house often looks like its falling apart. The sink is overflowing, the garbage is scattered across the floor, there’s screaming coming from somewhere, it sounds like a heard of rhino’s are about to crash through the wall at any given minute, tiny angry monkeys are swinging from -well-whatever they can swing from and no one ever seems to know how ANYTHING happened.
Welcome to Jumanji folks! Given this fantastic year of 2020 (insert heavy dramatic pre-teen eye roll) Our family has withstood a lot of this chaos with no grace and limited couth. Instead, we have seeming thrived with endless amounts of belly laughs — that ended in milk being shot out of noses, or pure and utter destruction of wooden floors, plates, carpets and our poor dogs sanity.
There are 6 (7 if you count the doggo) of us under this one, not very large, roof and I can tell you the square footage has definitely decreased with each “flatten the curve” week that has rolled by. Between homeschooling 5 year old triplets and helping our 9 year old navigate difficulties with virtual learning and virtual friendships — I wonder daily how this will affect them in the years to come.
Hopefully they’ll learn more about perseverance and not only setting boundaries, but holding strong to them. They will learn the value of time alone and that quality matters over quantity. I know, for a fact, that they have learned — If you can’t fight it or fix it then laugh. Laugh as much as you can and as often as you can.
I know that this ever elusive ‘work/life balance’ seems like some myth created by the gods as a ruse meant for their entertainment only. Trying to not be overwhelmed and still find the “blessing” is hard on most days. This holiday season was a blast, where I teetered on the edge of sanity. The kids got too much. My husband and I went overboard with gifts for each other (thanks Afterpay and Klarna for allowing this extravagance) and our oldest , 9, is questioning the validity of Santa. A strong wind storm came and almost carried our chickens away to Oz and our 87lb Lab tried to steal the Christmas Roast. Then there was the disaster that was our “catered” Feast of the 7 Fishes for Christmas Eve that was unexpectedly -NOT- ready to serve. God bless the in-laws for trying as hard as they did. As angry as the grandma was, I laughed like a hyena in heat the entire time i had to heat it up. (I also laughed even harder as my husband cleaned up from the “no mess Christmas Eve”)
The resonance of laughter, lightens the spirit, frees the soul and loosens that which would constrict our freedoms. Stay strong out there parents and care givers. Find the patience to laugh through the chaos, my friends. Embrace your Jumanji.
