My husband was out. I'd decided to bake cookies. The kitchen sink was filled with dirty baking sheets and doughy spoons and bowls. I'd given my son permission to play with his trains in the kitchen. So they were everywhere. Cole and Amelia had been screaming over the fort they'd built in Cole's room, so we'd moved to the living room, more neutral territory. I had fetched a one-person dome tent from the garage and was attempting to assemble it by myself in the living room, as Amelia steam-rolled over it.
Then I glanced up and saw some natural light pooling in the front entrance way and realized the front door was open. My initial panic evaporated as I did a fast head-count and realized all little bodies were still present and accounted for. Then my relief dissolved as I saw my neighbour standing in the hallway gazing at me in wonder. She held a clipboard. She was taking signatures to support our other neighbour's efforts to build a carport. I was happy to help out. But in that moment, I glanced around my house and saw what she was seeing.
Amelia had abandonned the tent. She had now climbed up on a dining room chair and onto the table where she was eating carrot sticks and red peppers out of a Denby bowl. I had to run to retrieve her on my way to the front entrance. I signed quickly. And she left. And I wondered in my head what she thought as she retreated out of my chaos. Was she thinking Man, those kids are WALKING all over her! Or She needs to hire a house cleaner.... and a nanny!
Or possibly.... Those were the days....
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