Son, You're the Man Around Here Now . . .

Mike has been gone the entire weekend working. This morning (after doing a million other things) I was just dawning boots to go shovel the driveway when Abe (all dressed in his church clothes) said, "I can do that, Mom." And, it wasn't the kind of "help" kids so cutely generally give. Like . . . say . . . this kind of help: (she was trying to help)He really shoveled the entire driveway, sidewalk, and walkway. Once, when the dog had escaped into the front yard and Abe was getting him back in the fence, I came out and picked up the shovel to finish the job. "You're not supposed to be out here," he said, taking the shovel out of my hands and sending me back in.
I already try to make my kids pull their weight -- you know, folding and putting away their laundry, emptying the dishwasher, etc., but there are some things that it hadn't really occurred to me that my own kids would be able to one day do around here. It is strange to think that when Mike is gone, Abe can shovel the driveway and, maybe in a little more time, mow the lawn, or run errands for me.

That sounds like I am just evilly drumming my fingertips together and thinking, "Oh good, they can soon do MORE MORE and MORE work for me!!" but that isn't what I mean. It just seems so unreal that they are on the verge of being able to do actual grown up kinds of helpful things. Strange that if something were broken in the house, it might actually be my son who would get out the tool box and fix it, my daughter who would make dinner on a hectic evening, my kids packing their own things for a family vacation, or putting a younger sibling down for a nap for me.

h

I have just been so much living the life of a mother of many young children -- whose every need is my responsibility, that imagining them not only handling things all on their own, but actually taking care of some of my needs is totally novel (and a little crazy).

h

My kids do help a lot, and even cleaning up is great. It was just that today was so hectic. Mike gone, one kid throwing up, another kid dumping a chocolate drink all over the carpet, me trying to make calls to get someone to cover for my calling at church so I could stay home with sick kid, and trying to make other calls to see who could let my older two sit by them in Sacrament mtg., etc. Abe just taking over and shoveling the driveway for me made me feel so much like it wasn't just me here alone handling everything. It felt like I had a responsible and capable teenage son rather than another little one needing my total care. It was just a very surprising and very comforting feeling.

n

Thanks, Abe. Don't forget that you are only nine too quickly though.