Craziness

I have always been so grateful that Jeff chose denistry as a profession instead of medicine, for very selfish reasons. I admire so much the "med wives" for practically being a single mom so much of the time during school and residency (and maybe even after that). Dental school and ortho school are hard, and have demanded a lot of Jeff's time, but the hours he has put in don't even begin to compare with the hours he would've put in had he chosen to be a doctor of medicine (instead of a doctor of dental surgery).

This past week I got to experience what it must be like to be married to a medical doctor, as the kids have seen Jeff for a total of about five hours in the last week. He was working late, playing flag football, and then took a 4-day trip to Arizona to sing in a charity concert with 259. I knew this was coming, and so was prepared for my stint as a single mother, but our bishop threw one more ball in the air for me to juggle by asking me to speak on the Sunday Jeff would be gone. I accepted (don't you feel bad for declining anything the bishop asks of you?), and spent some of my free moments during the week trying to get my talk together so that I wouldn't have to resort to cramming it into Sunday morning (church at 11).

Well, it just wasn't coming together. Saturday night, while the kids were sleeping, I started to feel panicked that I wasn't ready and faced the conclusion that a portion of my Sunday morning was going to have to be used in putting it together. And that's what I did. Kyla (bless her sweet little heart) was taking a morning nap and I closed myself in my bedroom at the computer to finish up, praying that Damon and Allie would be able to take care of themselves. And they did. But this is how they did it:

They filled the tub to the brim (the water was still on in this picture, and you can't see the inch of water on the ground that had flowed over the top), trying to sail their boats they had made at a birthday party the day before. Actually, they were only sailing Allie's, because I had told them that the water would ruin them and they wouldn't be able to play with them once they got wet, a fact Damon "forgot" to share with Allie.

The moment I walked into the bathroom to find this scene, I realized that my talk was about as good as it was going to get, and I quickly shifted my frame of mind to actually taking care of my kids. Unfortunately for Allie, her last clean pair of underwear were on the floor that was covered with water and I was left with a couple of choices: 1. have her go commando. In a dress. Definitely out. 2. Wear a pair of Damon's boxers. 3. Wear her swimsuit bottoms under her dress. We opted for choice #3 (if you're wondering why I didn't put her in some of Damon's old briefs, the answer to that would be that they were all dirty, too, as Allie had been wearing them days before).

So, we got ready for church with only minor complications (namely, Allie spilled the pan of ingredients I was putting into the bread maker on the floor--and all over my shoes--) and we headed to church. The bishop felt bad when he saw me walking in by myself, but I assured him that everything was fine and I would just sit in the congregation with the kids until it was my turn to speak (I was the last speaker, after the rest hymn). Allie blessed us all by sitting with Greg and Noel a few rows ahead of us, so I only had to deal with Damon and Kyla during the meeting. But when Kyla filled her diaper during the talk before the rest hymn, I knew I had to change her--and fast--so that I could make it back in time for my talk. I buzzed to the mother's lounge and wiped her the best that I could with the wipes I had in the bag, although they were so dried out I'm not sure they still qualified as "wet wipes" any longer. Praying in my heart, I finished (meaning, I removed the majority of the poop from her bum,, only leaving a little in her rolls), as the rest hymn started and I hurried back to the chapel, where our bishop's sweet wife met me in the foyer and demanded that I give her Kyla. No complaints there. Damon went to sit with Russ and Julie and I gathered my mostly-finished talk just as the hymn was ending. Phew, take a breath. I had 20 minutes to speak. Heaven help me.

I made it through. One of the comments I received (I shared the events of my whirlwind morning as the opening to my talk) was, "I can see that you need Jeff." Understatement of the week. Yes, how we missed our daddy.

Thankfully, now I am no longer playing the single mommy role (although a church meeting last night kept Jeff from seeing the kids before they went to bed) and the craziness has lessened dramatically. Jeff had a great time visiting his friends in AZ and I so wish I could've been there to hear the boys sing. I really do miss all the 259ers and wish we saw more of them (and their wives, of course). I asked him to bring me some cds home, but they didn't have any more Christmas ones. If anyone would like a 259 Christmas cd, let me know and I would be happy to burn one for you. Leave me a comment or send me an email (espyk@yahoo.com) and give me your address. I would love to send you a cd. Especially any of you "med wives" who are without your husbands far too much.