Party of Five

A random trip to Taco Bell last week got me thinking. The brood and I needed to waste time between pick up time at the Bigs' school and the start of Girl Scouts. Seeing as I'm already making 2 round trips (VA Beach /Suffolk) every school day til summer vacation, I'm staying in Suffolk in the afternoons when we have scouts in the evenings. I mean c'mon... as it is I'm driving 160 miles per day or 800 miles a week. Well, last Monday, we cleaned up at our old house, did some homework, and then headed to Taco Bell for a quick bite to eat before dropping Julia at Brownies. With Donk in town, I really don't bring all 5 very many places these days.

So, I was reminded of what those days are like by a random comment from a bunch of older ladies passing our table as they left Taco Bell. Now mind you, the kids were behaving very well enjoying their tacos and helping the little ones with their taco sauce and taking them to the restroom. While one of the ladies was cooing at the kids' cuteness, she made a remark that stuck with me... "Is someone having A PARTY?" I'm soo familiar with these types of comments that I quickly retorted, "You should see our house, it's always a party". This sweet woman thought I was entertainig a group of my child's friends. I couldn't POSSIBLY be the lucky Momma to all of them, now could I?!? When Patrick was on his IA in 2009 and on his deployment to Afganistan in 2010, I got comments EVERY SINGLE place I went. Most people were well meaning, even when they make the most callous comments... are they ALL yours?!?... were they planned? well someone has her hands full! are they all YOURS (meaning are some Dad's, some mine, and some "ours?" and some of my personal favorites... are you done?!?... are you crazy?... better you than me... Well, you get the picture.

I know most of the people who made these comments and the like really only intended nothing malicious. They're just curious, and that is totally natural. But, I will never forget the woman in the checkout line at aisle #7 at Wally World who stared at the brood as we waited nicely behind she and her husband while they checked out. When I couldn't take the staring and nervous edging further and further away from us, I exclaimed something like, " Aren't I just the luckiest Momma ever!?" That sure shut her up. With hubby starting workups this month that will continue until he deploys a year from now, I'm sure looking forward to doing my shopping/eating/playing here on base. Those comments, at least the clueless ones will be few and far between because I'll be with my own people. People who get it. People who understand what I'm dealing with and will be happy to support me when I go a little crazysauce from all these darn kids I have!

A little scrapping, not my favorite, but at least I'm getting back to it...


Bye!!