Failures and Successes Part 2

A Failure...

The dirty dishes filled the sink and overflowed onto piles covering the counters. The stove. Oh, the stove. Pots and pans on every burner--one with dried sauce, one holding leftover noodles, and a third with soggy broccoli. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes that still needed to be unloaded and put away. My kitchen looked like some ghastly episode of "Hoarders." (Okay, maybe not quite as bad as Hoarders, but close.)

It was 9:30pm, and I was exhausted. That day had been a doozie. After running kids to soccer practice and music lessons, helping them with homework, making dinner, doing assembly-line style showers for the youngest three, and going to a two hour play practice, I now faced the fallout. Disaster Kitchen!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I hate doing dishes (and I don't use the word hate often or lightly). I would chose to clean all three bathrooms than face a sink full of dirty dishes. And my wonderfully faithful dish washer was in Indonesia.

But there I was...facing my failure. I should have kept up with the dishes, one meal at a time, but the priorities of the day (and my hatred for dish washing) kept me postponing the task.

So I washed. I unloaded. I dried pots and dishes by hand to make more room in the drying rack. I took out the garbage in the dark. I scrubbed the counters. I washed and cleaned for nearly 2 hours. (My friend says I need to learn to wash faster - probably true). And I cussed. (Sorry, it's true).

I collapsed in bed smelling like dish soap and feeling like a failure.

A success (or two)...

The next night, I faced another sink full of dishes. I'd done a bit better during the day cleaning up as I went, but I'd made a yummy after-school treat for the kids and brownies for dessert and the evidence of my baking episodes was spread throughout the kitchen. It was again 9:30pm and the kids were ALL still awake.

Madi and Leasie sensed my need for help (maybe it was my stifled scream that tipped them off). But boy did they rally. Leasie wiped the dinner table and swept the entire back room. Madi helped CJ get into pajamas and sat in the rocking chair reading books to her. By the time I finished the last dish, the back room was picked up and CJ was asleep in bed.

I gathered my two big girls in my arms and thanked them again and again. All three of us collapsed in our beds...but this time, I didn't feel like a failure.

Another Success. General Conference weekend (my favorite of the year). During the first Saturday session, I was at a play rehearsal with T-man, Leasie, and Meya. Madi had stayed home with CJ. She called me a little before noon asking how to watch conference on the internet. When I praised her for wanting to watch conference she said, "Of course I want to watch it...I love it!" Oh it made my heart swell.

I was able to watch the remaining three sessions over the next 36 hours. But as it turns out, Madi watched all four sessions. On her own. Without any prodding or bribing. I admire her so much. When I was her age, I'm pretty sure I did good just to watch the prophet speak. Madi's desire and example to me is perhaps the biggest success of them all!