Feed The Python A Yellow Cab

Shortly before boarding the fateful flight that left him stranded on a south pacific island for four years, Chuck Noland and Kelly Frears sat knee-to-knee while flipping through their Franklin planners, trying to find an open date in their busy schedules. Last night, the Boss and I became that couple. No, the Boss isn’t pursuing a PhD and I’m not flying off to save FedEx from yet another shipping disaster, but our schedules are filling with so much stuff that finding an open night is a challenge. We sat at the kitchen table last night with our date books open, making sure that we both had all the important events and activities recorded. Between Karate, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Confirmation Class, I’ve decided to trade my Sienna for a Checker Taxi. I’m thinking of copying Homer Simpson after he ate a poison blowfish and believed that he would die in 24 hours when he wrote a “Things to Do” list that ended with “Make love to Marge.” Finding a date night with the Boss will be challenging.

I would worry about being on the go that much during the evening hours except for two reasons. The first reason is that we do not eat on the run. We eat dinner each night at our kitchen table as a family. That is important, albeit a little stressful, family time together. It will become a less stressful after the Major learns to eat faster than a python digesting a water buffalo and the Captain learns to keep her fanny planted firmly on her chair while eating instead of standing up to twirl and dance and leave spaghetti sauce hand prints on the kitchen wall between bites. She still believes that her hair is a portable napkin for wiping her hands, which makes combing that unruly mop an adventure. Hollandaise sauce is not a recommended conditioner. The second reason is that we homeschool. Our children are not out of the house all day, away from family, and then on the run in the evening, too. We spend all day together. A little time apart in the evening is a good thing. Still, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights are the nights that we need to jealously protect. It will be our time to hunker down behind locked doors and do…nothing.