Underpants

Here's a post I started on vacation and had to stop short when we went out.
Lately I have been working on letting things go. Okay, once you have stopped laughing, read on. We are on vacation with the boys this week, which to many moms is more stressful than an average day. While the family gets to relax and enjoy the beach and various tourist attractions, mom has to organize, pack, plan meals and activities, and make sure everything flows smoothly. Don't get me wrong, I get this weird pleasure out of preparing for events despite the fact that I generally appear to be completely stressed out (another trait I inherited from my mom). There is something strangely invigorating about making sure we have everything we need and I felt well-prepared for our trip to the beach. But once we got here I started to get anxious. John skipped his nap the first few days and came completely unraveled. Then we foolishly fed them ice cream before going out to dinner and witnessed the all-out madness that ensued. While dragging my boys to the bathroom as they were literally bouncing all over the place, I passed by a table with five children under 10 all of whom were sitting peacefully and enjoying their meals. Jealousy raged through me. Why couldn't my children behave like that? My husband chastised me for not being able to relax. The next day we left early for a long bike ride through the woods and I tried really hard to relax. And yes, I see the irony there. But there was something about that ride through the woods that released my anxiety. I started thinking about the fact that while my children have a tremendous amount of energy that never fully expends and often exhausts [ME], they are also incredibly smart, funny and creative and I wouldn't change that for anything. They are who they are. Later in the week I set them free with new water guns and bubbles. My husband graciously filled up a bucket with water to refuel the guns, and after about 15 minutes I noticed that the boys were completely soaked. They had quickly moved from innocent battle to all-out, dump empty bubble containers full of water on each other's head warfare. I started to get upset when hubby pointed out that it was me that sent them out there with the guns and bubbles. Oh, and they are boys. It's what they do. They get their underwear soaking wet and think it's funny. I guess I need to start seeing the humor in it too.