Imaginations Run Wild

We've had a great day at home. Relaxing some...watching t.v. some...cleaning some...cooking some - you get the picture. I have thoroughly enjoyed this day. One thing that this day did not have in it was my husband, Bradley. We put him on a plane(s) to India yesterday and he will be gone until January 17th. When you count the days, it's really not that long, but to me, it seems that way. I think it's because he left on a single digit day and will return on a day that has the word "teen" in it. That's just how it works for me. But also, because I am all things to all the little people in my house until he returns. Yes, "Mom's" the word.

Now I am a very blessed woman for sure. I have a very wonderful and helpful husband and great kids. But when you aren't used to be a single mom for any amount of time, AND your love language is acts of service, this time can turn out to be interesting. No matter, it is all in service to Him for sure.

I got into the "cleaning some" part of my day, which involved cleaning dishes, laundry and putting away Christmas...all at the same time. For a while, I felt like I had developed ADHD. I kept bouncing from one of these chores to the other. My kids had been upstairs for quite a while and my son came down to announce that he'd be going in and out for a while. Now, it's cold! Plain and simple, so I told him to put his coat on. He obeyed and I went back to my ADHD chores. Right about then, I heard him yell up to his sister, "I'm rich, right?" And she happily answered, "Yes, of course!" And he went out the front door. Well, this intrigued me. I began to continue the appearance of my cleaning so as not to interrupt their whatever it was they were doing. And boy did I soon discover.

They had a full-fledged Veterinarian's office upstairs. All of the WebKinz animals were in little cages. The Wii remotes controllers had been re-purposed to Defibrillator paddles in the operating room (the bathroom). The toilet paper from under the bathroom sink was now bandages awaiting the wounds of the animals that Brody was out rescuing. Bailey ran the office, but Brody was the doctor. He was riding his Porsche (new bike) to and from work. Too bad it made his cheeks so red. He obviously had the sun roof up on this cold, brisk day. Yes, the imaginations were out in full force up those stairs.

I love it when my kids, who have just about every toy they could possibly want at their fingertips decide that their imaginations are more fun than the anything else. And as a creative type, it certainly helps to know that this kind of playing cultivates more in them than watching hours of the Disney Channel or playing hours of video games. And it certainly helped when I finally walked up the stairs to behold the huge mess that the Vet Office was in 3 of the 4 rooms up there. But oh well...no reason to crush one of God's greatest gifts. Messes clean up and moments like these are fleeting. I'm just going to enjoy this part of the journey.