5 Minute Time Out

I hear it a lot - mostly from family and friends who are close, but not close enough to see behind the curtain of our little operation. "You guys make it looks so easy!" My first reaction is to argue the compliment, "you're kidding right?! This looks easy?!" But I bite my tongue because the more I chew on it the more I think they're just filling empty air with a cookie cutter comment. Like they need to say something so they pull this little cliche statement out of their back pocket. It's right up there with, "you two are such a great couple" and "those jeans look amazing on you". No one really means it (not they don't either, just that they aren't really spending their brain power analyzing the amazing angles that the jeans have given your butt) but they feel they need to say something and they have nothing else to offer so they spout the saying. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's malicious either and I certainly appreciate them giving us the little boost in confidence, it's just that I want to be clear, what we are doing. ... it's not easy. Anyone that tells you it's easy is full of it. This weekend has been a great example. The girls were tremendous, but we were all over the place in celebration of Gina's birthday and come this afternoon we got home and it hits you like a ton of bricks. Scratch that, two tons. ... maybe even two and a half. The girls were playing in the living room and Gina, running on reserves, was listlessly dusting the girls room. I needed to do something. I called her in to our room and made her sit on the bed. I grabbed her feet, swung them around so she was lying down and I took my place next to her. "5 minutes" I said. "The girls are playing happily, there's no drama. Let's just lay here for 5 minutes." And it was spectacular. Sometimes you just need to call an audible time out and lay down. A 5 minute boost won't get you through the week, but it'll get you through dinner, bath, vacuuming and bed time. And that's exactly what we needed. After that, it's up to a bottle of Malbec to carry us the rest of the week. By the way, you know the first mention of alcohol, even more specifically wine, in history? It's just after Noah docks the arc in Genesis. The wine that he makes suddenly ferments (allusively for the first time ever) and Noah gets plastered. I think it was Gods gift. The rainbow said He would never flood the earth again, but the wine gave Noah the courage to populate the earth again. I'm just saying, having kids lends a whole new appreciation to a nice bottle of vino. Don't judge me. I'm a father of twin girls! ;)