Lord, Give Me Patience!

It’s so hot here that the kids have had early dismissal from school the last two days. If this is a taste of what summer vacation will be like, pray for me.

My daughter, inspired by the movie 27 Dresses that she just finished watching, has decided to go through my closet. She’s trying on every dress I own, including all of the sentimental “garments” I’ve kept through the years. So far she’s come down modeling:

-- A new tennis dress (it’s actually hers although she doesn’t really play tennis.)

-- A gown from my high school prom (What was I thinking?!)

-- A bridesmaid dress from my friend’s wedding 18 years ago (Definitely NOT a dress to be shortened and worn again.)

-- A longish skirt belted to be a sleeveless dress (It's actually kind of cute on her.)

-- My high school letter jacket (Accompanied by both kids incredulously asking, “Mom! What is this?)

-- A slip dress that looks waaaaay different on her size 1 body than my not size 1 body (As it hangs limply on her slender frame she declares, “Mom, I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t a good look.”)

-- The “crown” part of my wedding veil along with a “1998” sash I made for her to wear as "baby New Year" for our Christmas card (Quite a combo!)

Where is she finding this stuff? And what does my room look like?!

In the meantime my son, who seems to have received an extra shot of adrenaline has been literally bouncing off the walls. He’s “practicing” his drums banging his drumsticks on the walls, my desk, the counters, the doors…and even on his drum, LOUDLY. In between, for sport, he’s annoying his sister (who’s having a heck of a time fending him off in her various costumes). And he’s now demanding to be let into a locked room where she's practicing her violin because he HAS to use the bathroom—even though we have two other lovely bathrooms available.

Even the dog, already stressed out from the heat, senses chaos overload. She’s alternately panting and looking at me fretfully, and running upstairs to bark at the kids to voice her concern. And the cat, well you know where the cat is—nowhere to be seen!

In the midst of this all, I’m trying to remain calm, write and get some other work done. Lord, help me! It’s going to be a long, loud, messy summer!

I guess the silver lining is I’ll probably have more to write about.

Now, do I call it quits for the day and tackle the mess certainly waiting for me upstairs or do we pack up and head to the pool for some relief? Hmmm, what would you do?

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24