This post is from a year ago when I was still pretty new to blogging. I thought I would dust it off and give it another airing.
"I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad"
~William Shakespeare~
Sunday morning...chaos. There are clothes everywhere..dishes in the sink..cereal all over the table, my girls are fighting and screaming..nothing is going right. I go to walk the dogs...and it seems that they have already walked themselves-all over the floor...the last straw-my coffee is cold. The kids are clamoring for attention, demanding, yelling...too many needs all at once...
Me-"That's it!"..."I can't do this anymore,... I'm running away from home!"
Omar-"Where will you go?"
Me-"I don't know...maybe the circus..."
Omar-"But you don't like clowns."
Me-"Right..."
Omar-"You said that they creep you out."
Me-"...maybe I misjudged them...lots of people don't like clowns...maybe I can help...maybe they need friends..perhaps someone from outside the clown community representing them-telling the world "Hey-they just want to make you laugh..."
Sammy-"Is Mama running away again?"
Me-"YES!!! I'm thinking about the circus.."
Sammy-"But you don't like clowns.."
Me-"Maybe I was wrong!"
Lily-"YAY!!! Papa can quit his job and stay home!!"
Sammy-"No he can't...he makes the money that pays for our house and the cars and our clothes and toys ...we would be forced to live on the street with boxes and become beach combers.."
Me-"Beach combers...?"
Lily-"papa don't quit your job."
Me-"What do you know about beach combing?"
Sammy-"They live on the beach and collect wood and make fires and wear torn clothes.."
Oscar-"I don't want to live on the beach..."
Me-" You're not going to live on the beach...I'm joining the circus."
Oscar-"We're going to the circus?"
Me-"No! I am..I want to run free with the clowns!"
Lily-"But you have us!!"
Me-"I know!!"
Lily-"You don't like clowns....you don't like their make-up and big feet."
Oscar-"Clown feet...hahahaha...clown feeeeeeeeet..."
Lily-"They creep you out."
Me-"Maybe I'm wrong!!..Maybe they just need love..."
Oscar"feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!"
Me-"Oscar! stop with the feet!"
Oscar-"Say it Mama-say feeeeeeet..hahahaha!!"
Me-"feet..feeeet...feet!"
Oscar-"feeet hahahahahaha!!!"
Omar-"can you pick me up some shoes?"
Me-"What?"
Omar-"When you go to the store..."
Me-"what store?..I'm joining the circus.."
Omar-"Oh, I thought you were going to the store.."
Me-"Oh...what kind?"
Omar-" The usual-in black."
Me-"do you need anything else?"
The herd-"Can I have a snack?"
Me-"Ask Papa, I'm going to the store."
Sammy-"I thought you were going to the circus."
Me-"I have to go to the store first."
Lily-"are there clowns there?"
Me-"probably."
Sammy-"O.K....bye Mama."
Omar-"Take your time-drive safe-love you"
The herd-"love you Mama!"
Me-"Love you too...see you later..." I RUN out the door..
Two minutes later, I'm zipping down the back country roads in my mini-van...Led Zeppelin blasting over the radio..I am a woman ALONE!!! Tempting fate, just waiting for a police officer to pull me over... "where are you going in such a hurry Ma'am?""I'm off to join the circus!!HAHA
HAHAHAHA!""Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step away from the family vehicle...nice and easy now..dispatch?...I've got an A.W.O.L. mother... she says she's looking for clowns...could you send some Shriner's..the ones on scooters..Over."
Luck was on my side..I wasn't pulled over...even all the lights stayed green. Later, as I was walking through the shoe dept., I found myself thinking, "what are they doing right now? Did Omar give them lunch?...Maybe we can all go for a walk later..." I was missing them! What the hell is wrong with me???...sigh.. Actually, nothing. I've got a great family. They may be a bit overwhelming at times...but they are a good lot. Sometimes, I just need to step away from them in order to see that. I also realize that I don't need to leave home to join the circus....I live in one-and I like it. As for clowns?..well, they really do creep me out.
12 comments:
The only foods you can eat at a circus:
Peanuts
Popcorn
Nachos
Hot dogs
Cotton candy
That's IT! There are five foods in the circus, only five. Doesn't matter where on the north american continent you are going to see it-it's always the same five foods.Because the circus comes to you! And it brings all of it's own food. It also travels in it's own exclusive train-there's no way that it's going to sleep in a strange environment every night :)
There is a very succinct schedule.
If the fat lady clown chases the tiny dog around the car BEFORE the skinny guy clown starts farting balloons out of his giant clown pants-well, that's it! The whole night is RUINED. Don't ask me why-I have no idea. That's just the way the circus is.
Sounds kinda familiar to me....
Great post, btw.
Thanks Denise-I had much fun with this one...I do like peanuts, popcorn and the occasional hotdog,,just 5 things on the menu...how very like home..
We already run with clowns! :-)They just won't wear the clown paint because they have sensory issues, and clown shoes and clown noses are also out of the question, but the noise, the chaos, the hilarity, that we all get in spades. I love that within the tight structured schedules, the lists to keep us on track, we exist within a kaleidoscope world of our children's cacaphony. It may get overwhelming at times, but when we get the away time we need for moments of relative quiet, we remember that we thrive when we are in the center of the storm of our children. We have our chance to shine, to redeem ourselves when we fall short. And the beauty and the wonder of it is that this exists not just for parents of special needs children, but is the reality for parents of "normal" children, as well. We get extra work, extra hurdles, ah, but when we clear these hurdles, when our special needs children meet a milestone, our gratitude, our admiration for our children is boundless. We appreciate it all more, so hard-fought and hard-won, it all is for us. :-)
(I think I'll post this comment on my blog, too. It's worth being said again, don't you think?)
How very true-yes, there are days we all want to run away-any parent, any child...but our kids...all they are how hard they work-milestones are amazing-my kids keep me humble..
Hey, I just saw the kicking kittens blog. :-) Love it, even if I love my four fat cats!
Hello. And Bye.
AHHHH I couldn't get rid of the old comments from last year!! ahh well..
LOVE it
Gla dI found your blog
So is this your main blog
Hi K-floortime. Yes..this is my personal blog...all the rest are group efforts..:) Thanks for coming by-glad I found yours as well!
Came to this through blog gems. I really feel for you, and have been in a similar situation. At the end of my tether I just drove and drove and in the end just had to go home 'cos I missed them so much.x
This reminds me of more than one conversation i've had with my girls. They grind you down with the illogical logic. But it makes you smile in the end so i guess that's the point.
I love the way they all knew about your hatred of clowns and called you on it...ha!
It's amazing how little time away it takes to regroup and get your wind back and be reminded that you really wouldn't trade your family for anything.
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