My husband has started a new job recently, which means he is working days, nights and weekends…  I always say it is one of the downsides of staying home with the kids.  My husband feels compelled to work more and more—given that my salary is, well, low indeed.  So the weekend comes and the kids and I rally up with a good attitude and a purpose, knowing dad will be gone Saturday and Sunday for all or part

of the day.  And we proceed to run about the house, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning those little things that don’t get de-dirtied all week.  The boys play outside, I do a load of laundry, we pick up all those little piles of paper that have accumulated, go to a football game, and late afternoon, I decide it’s movie time…  And who comes in the door—my husband.  I don’t think much of it.  It’s not the first time we’ve spent a Saturday afternoon, sitting on the couch, pretending for an hour and a half that there is nothing to do in the world but lounge blissfully, whilst watching a movie—loud and big on the family room wall!  It’s fabulous!  Thus ends Saturday. 

Sunday begins the same way, we make breakfast, spend a long morning buzzing about, run a few errands, grocery shop, clean the kitchen again, another load of laundry, pick up a birthday present, and work on some homework for school–and even later in the afternoon, I call “truce” on the world of weekend chores and the dream of catching up with all those “little things” that we never will.  We sit down and because I have no more energy to entertain or be industrious, we whip out another movie!  What?!  I know, not a big deal right???  But who pops in the door fifteen minutes after we start the movie—my husband again!  Does he just sit in the garage until we take a moment to sit—and then pop in so I feel even more terrible that he is stressed out and working all weekend???  What a crapper!! 

I feel like Lassie must have felt.  You work hard all day, dodge a fire, save a child from drowning, mediate a fight between a lion and a bear, bake a pie—without getting dog hair in it, nurse your owner’s grandmother back to health, create a potion that heals large wounds within seconds and keep the world from tipping from its axis…  only to find that no one is around until you sit down on the porch for a minute, maybe a bone in your mouth, maybe napping…  but doing absolutely nothing…  and looking great while doing it!  (okay, that last part is just for kicks…) 

Yep, that’s how I felt.  Yep, that’s how it will feel again.  And one day, I will step into my husband’s office and catch him napping on his desk.  I’ll nonchalantly say hello and pretend I don’t care…  BUT I’m taking pictures—just in case I need them to defend myself!  I’m going out to paint my white picket fence.