Enough Done

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #25:

Chore

Today was a day off work, and I had super high expectations for myself. I’m really behind on life right now, but I don’t have anything good to blame. Things have just piled up. Little things, but things that add up. So today I set out with a hefty to do list of lots of tasks that have been on the back burner - chores like paying medical bills online, refilling the salt and pepper shakers, and doing a whitening treatment on our white clothes. 

I started off well. I got a lot of things done before I even took my kids to school. Then I had a dentist appointment, and when I got home, I started working on my chores again, but suddenly I got really sick to my stomach. I went and laid down and fell asleep for two hours. Then my whole day was gone, and I had to start picking up kids and prepping dinner. 

While I was cooking dinner (Beef Orzo, if you’re curious), I felt like I was in the trenches of raising toddlers again. Every single one of my kids was standing within six feet of me asking questions and making messes and engaging in hangry behaviors. The kitchen got trashed. I was stressed to the max (and still didn’t feel well). Scotty wasn’t home. 

When dinner was done, I told my kids to leave me alone for twenty minutes because I needed to sit down and rest for a bit. That didn’t work out, of course. Eva was right by my side asking me a million questions. “Will you take me swimming?” “Can I paint?” “Why can’t I go to Young Women?” “How do you spell axolotl?” “Can I look on Amazon?” “Can I play with a friend?” “Can we go to the zip line park?” “What is tapioca?” “Can I have a bubble bath?” “When can I have a spa night?” “Will you take me to the dollar store?” “Do we have any spicy chips?”

(“Spicy chips” is new. I’m not sure what kind of chips she’s asking for, and I had to look up how to spell axolotl). 

On days like this, it’s hard to not feel like I’m drowning a bit. It’s funny that even as my kids have gotten older, some days it still feels like everyone is four years old and completely dependent on me. I don’t think I’ll ever be at peace with not getting “enough done” in a day.