~My Wish~

Every celebration, Mother's Day, Christmas, Birthday, my kids ask me what I want for a present. I always tell them I want a clean house. And when I get the package I'm always pretty sure that I'm not getting what I requested.

But now I think what I really need is a personal assistant. I think if I had the chance to be home I would have time to clean. Although I probably wouldn't since I like a clean house, but not the process.

So, if I had a personal assistant I would have him/her do the following this week:

• Drive MonaLisa to two dance classes and a rehearsal, the orthodontist, the asthma doctor, and physical therapy
• Drive Ratchet to occupational therapy
• Go to Costco, Top Foods, and Target
• Make lunches each morning
• Drop off and pick up kids from school
• Drive the Bear to the dentist, pick him up and drop him off at work--because we choose to only have one car
• Make my appointments at the physical therapist for my injured shoulder
• Bake a cake and cinnamon rolls for MonaLisa's birthday
• Chaperon the slumber party

But this is why I can't have a personal assistant do this:

• I need to help fit MonaLisa's jazz and ballet shoes, sign all her release forms, and watch parts of her classes for her physical therapist
• I need to fit some of the dancers during her rehearsal
• I have to sign the payment forms at the orthodontist
• I have to be there when the asthma doctor signs off her school forms
• I need to know what occupational therapy to work on at home with Ratchet and the same with physical therapy for MonaLisa
• Quite a few I have to work around food allergies so, I need to do the shopping and lunch making and cake baking
• If I didn't take the Bear to the dentist and then to work, I wouldn't be in the area to play with the dogs at the fabric store
• It took me 20 minutes to set up my six physical therapy appointments working around my family's crazy life
• Baking cinnamon rolls with MonaLisa is OUR tradition
• There's no way I'd miss out on the memories of MonaLisa's first slumber party

Wait, maybe I need a sister wife (just kidding).

Actually all of these are the joys of being a mom and a woman today. And I can't even imagine missing out on the conversations in the car with my kids.

If I hadn't picked MonaLisa up from school for ballet I wouldn't have seen the praise note at the entrance to the school about Ratchet returning money to the teacher that he found on his desk.

I would have missed watching in the rear view mirror as Ratchet sings, dances, and clicks his fingers to Taylor Swift's "You Should Have Said No" and Reba McEntire's "I'm a Survivor." Yes, my kid likes country.

And I would have missed out on the fact that instead of pouting that I wouldn't play her music, MonaLisa was singing all the words to Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and "Only the Good Die Young." I mean she has to learn the classics, right?

I also would have missed the admiration of the other dancers when MonaLisa walked up and they said, "The Doll gets to be in our class this year!" (Which is really cool when you realize some of them are four years older than her.)

Yeah, maybe a personal assistant would be nice, but I think I'll continue to wish for a maid instead. After all, how many of you sit around and talk about the time you cleaned the toilet together with your mom.

One last note: the other day at a family party the Bear's Aunt C. said that a clean house is the sign of a someone who's boring. And my SIL said, "or someone with OCD" (which she has). And then another SIL said, "no, remember it's CDO" (get it, it has to be alphabetical).

That was for you Amy (who I'm going to miss). The bottom birthday card on this post she made for me. Isn't she fabulous and amazingly talented?

So, if you had one wish then it would be _____________ (fill in the blank).