WARNING:I'm sappy tonight

Today we had no fewer than NINE different people working in our house. From the tv repair that took three guys, to the hairline fracture in a kitchen tile that needed to be chipped out and replaced, there was a lot of action around here. Then the iron broke, and that precipitated an impromptu trip to Target, Land of Much Spending. We got all the essentials -- a Hello Kitty (or as Paige calls it, "Kello Hitty") rolling bag, a rolling turtle bag for Graham, a bunny cookie jar, paper towels, gifts for children's birthdays, batteries, and much much more, not the least of which was the damned replacement Rowenta iron.

I was not happy because the new one doesn't have the retractable cord like the old one did. But anyway, we had a grand time and came home to nap, but noone napped. So we went out front and pulled weeds, a favorite passtime of my quirky little tikes. Then there was another repair guy, this time for the phones.

Finally we had an "Adbenture" as Paige says, by going to Central Market. Now picture me. I am in khakis that have a nice purple ink blot on the rear pocket, thanks to an uncapped pen left on the front stoop where I sat, my hair is in the doubled up ponytail that I swore in years past I would NEVER sport, and I have on absolutely zero makeup, not even Chapstick. We are just clearing the deli section, after I fed proscuitto to my kids like a couple of eager starved birds, and just as we are contemplating the baked goods, I see a fine looking authentic cowboy grinning from ear to ear and -- thank God -- not looking at me but my children. It was Clay Walker. He complimented me on my very charming kids and I said, "Thanks Clay" Paige didn't want to meet a real country singer at the moment, much to my dismay, and of course this was the ONLY moment this week that they weren't sporting their rodeo duds. Oh well. It was fun!

So I was in the shower with my kids tonight coming up with lyrics to my own country song. Here's what I've got:



She's at the grocery store with the little ones
They're leaving trails of shredded cheese
and Mommy may I have this please?
Folks just cringe or smile or stare at all the mess

Her husband says he's working late
So she won't bother with a dinner plate
Cooking for one just isn't worth the fuss

She does her best to be a mother
and her husband says no other
could do the job the way she seems to do

Chorus: She hears it all the time,

The days seem like forever

but the years fly by in seconds

And really she believes that it's all is true.

It all comes down to family, and loving our kids has got to be

The best kind of love we ever get to feel.

And from time to time she sees how her life might
look so easy come and easy go
But the truth is the fight's harder as a stay at home mother
Than any corporate job she's ever known

And she gives and gives her love to them
When she disciplines and corrects them
With firm but tender hands that know hard work
And she sees the good that comes of it
And she wouldn't trade a moment's grit
For the progress they have made in these short years

Chorus

Just the other day she went out with old friends.
And saw the other way a marriage ends.
When people just give up on love and let the anger rise above
any sense of what it means to say, "I do."

Sure the single life is full of crazy fun
And who doesn't remember that feeling of just-begun?
But coming home is sweeter than all that.

Chorus

Just as the kids are about to say their prayers
She hears his footsteps coming up the stairs
And all of them grin from ear to ear with joy
Daddy's home! they shout and she looks round
He's standing in his suit and tie -- she's already in her gown
But she can't help but feel that all of this
Is just the way she'd have dreamt it if she'd never known kind of this love.

Chorus