The many days of Thanksgiving were over, everyone had gone back home, the house was still relatively clean, and I was sound asleep in bed thinking I was "ready" to get back to work and get the boys back on a normal schedule with school.
Suddenly, I hear the shower start, which is normal, as my Oldest Baby takes his shower at night. I registered the sound somewhere in my mind.....and it seemed somewhat louder than usual. I was in that heavy sleep that you go into about an hour after you go to bed, and I pushed the wondering away, for about 9 seconds.
Next I heard cries for help coming from the bathroom. This is not usual, and the shower still sounded really loud.
I hear my Youngest Baby rumbling up the steps and going into the bathroom, presumably to "help" his brother. The next thing I heard was bickering between the two of them as to how the other one is doing things wrong, and still the water is running like crazy! By now I am no longer in any kind of sleep. Instead I am tearing myself from my warm, soft, quiet, heavenly bed and trying to make it to the door without killing myself. It sounds like a freight train is in the bathroom, possibly running over at least one of my children, maybe both!
I hear my Youngest Baby rumbling up the steps and going into the bathroom, presumably to "help" his brother. The next thing I heard was bickering between the two of them as to how the other one is doing things wrong, and still the water is running like crazy! By now I am no longer in any kind of sleep. Instead I am tearing myself from my warm, soft, quiet, heavenly bed and trying to make it to the door without killing myself. It sounds like a freight train is in the bathroom, possibly running over at least one of my children, maybe both!
I stumble into the bathroom and the scene that greeted me was, well it was crazy, but nothing you want to get up out of your deepest sleep for.
Water was shooting out of a hole where the hot water knob used to be and both boys are trying to stop it, one fully clothed, and the other one bent over double in the shower. I ask what happened and they both start yelling at the same time, not because they were mad, but because they had to yell over the sound of the water shooting out of the hole like a fire hose (!) and hitting the back wall of the shower when it's not hitting my naked Oldest Baby and then splashing all over the bathroom. He pivots toward me to yell his version of the story and I notice that he is still bent over double, and at this point it dawns on me that yes, he is naked, but he also 14 and in the "MY MOTHER MUST NOT SEE ME NAKED OR THE WORLD WILL END" stage, and so I dive for the hole and tell the boys to go turn off the water to the house. They both leave. To do what, I do not know because now it occurs to me that they don't know where the turn off to the water is. I yell for help. Water continues to shoot mostly down my arms and between the walls to the downstairs bathroom. I must say, my bathroom floors have probably never been quite THIS clean before.....
And then I throw caution to the wind, throw the shower curtain as shut as I can get it as fast as I can, ( I am not at my best at 11:30 pm after an hour and a half of sleep, I freely admit) and run as fast as I can downstairs to turn off the water.
The silence was as welcome as it was deafening.
I drag myself back upstairs to find the twins looking for tools. Yes, I laughed too. In fact, I laughed for about 20 minutes solid, once my legs stopped shaking and I could be trusted to stomp on towels all over both bathroom floors.
Then I start wondering who to call about this. Thank God for one of my Angels, who was even up at midnight. AND returned my call. If you do not have this worked out already, you need to make a list in your head of people you can call at midnight who will not only answer the phone but will answer the call! This list should be added to periodically, I would say at least every 5 years, because as the years go by the list gets shorter; people die, and the ones who don't get old too. Don't let that happen. You will pay for it in the end, or maybe sooner, and I can guarantee it will not happen at a convenient time. We must be vigilant.
The next morning I scooped water out of the back of one of the stools, boiled it, and set up a little station by the kitchen sink. We washed our hair (sort of), our faces, and brushed our teeth. We felt like pioneers. Or prison inmates. Prison inmates and at privately run prison, not those fancy places that have the computers and spa days. You get the picture.
So, this was Monday after a week's vacation.
It was quite a week.
Going back to work was a piece of cake, if you know what I mean.
Water was shooting out of a hole where the hot water knob used to be and both boys are trying to stop it, one fully clothed, and the other one bent over double in the shower. I ask what happened and they both start yelling at the same time, not because they were mad, but because they had to yell over the sound of the water shooting out of the hole like a fire hose (!) and hitting the back wall of the shower when it's not hitting my naked Oldest Baby and then splashing all over the bathroom. He pivots toward me to yell his version of the story and I notice that he is still bent over double, and at this point it dawns on me that yes, he is naked, but he also 14 and in the "MY MOTHER MUST NOT SEE ME NAKED OR THE WORLD WILL END" stage, and so I dive for the hole and tell the boys to go turn off the water to the house. They both leave. To do what, I do not know because now it occurs to me that they don't know where the turn off to the water is. I yell for help. Water continues to shoot mostly down my arms and between the walls to the downstairs bathroom. I must say, my bathroom floors have probably never been quite THIS clean before.....
And then I throw caution to the wind, throw the shower curtain as shut as I can get it as fast as I can, ( I am not at my best at 11:30 pm after an hour and a half of sleep, I freely admit) and run as fast as I can downstairs to turn off the water.
The silence was as welcome as it was deafening.
I drag myself back upstairs to find the twins looking for tools. Yes, I laughed too. In fact, I laughed for about 20 minutes solid, once my legs stopped shaking and I could be trusted to stomp on towels all over both bathroom floors.
Then I start wondering who to call about this. Thank God for one of my Angels, who was even up at midnight. AND returned my call. If you do not have this worked out already, you need to make a list in your head of people you can call at midnight who will not only answer the phone but will answer the call! This list should be added to periodically, I would say at least every 5 years, because as the years go by the list gets shorter; people die, and the ones who don't get old too. Don't let that happen. You will pay for it in the end, or maybe sooner, and I can guarantee it will not happen at a convenient time. We must be vigilant.
The next morning I scooped water out of the back of one of the stools, boiled it, and set up a little station by the kitchen sink. We washed our hair (sort of), our faces, and brushed our teeth. We felt like pioneers. Or prison inmates. Prison inmates and at privately run prison, not those fancy places that have the computers and spa days. You get the picture.
So, this was Monday after a week's vacation.
It was quite a week.
Going back to work was a piece of cake, if you know what I mean.
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These are my thoughts, which sometimes drive me crazy and sometimes keep me sane, but are always entertaining. I call this Lace Your Days With Hope because I can't find enough hope to make an entire quilt out of. Stay tuned, and add your own!