Four pairs of shoes in one day. Yippee!

Monday, May 24 — Sunday was brutal on the heels of a hard, horrible week. The older kids (11, 9) were both gone for the weekend. Hubby left before 7 that morning and sometime right after that, Mr. E, who happens to be 3, pulled the blanket off of me. “Momma! Are we gonna have pancakes now?”

“Paaaaancakes! Pancakes!” And that would be R, the 2-year-old, seconds before he climbed up on the bed and jumped on me — like something you’d see on Wrestlemania.

So, after being tackled, I was up. The day was a blur of diapers, snacks, meals, laundry, vacuuming and crackers — oh yes, cracker crumbs everywhere; cracker crumbs pretty much sprinkled all over my day. How many crumbs can one pack of crackers make?

Oh. I see. There were multiple packs. Nice.

I was up at 6 on Monday morning to get ready for work. And to get four kids ready for school. Since we are working with one car, I had to also pick up hubby from work. That’s right: six people, three destinations. And one overwhelmed momma. And it was still seven-something in the morning.

When hubby stepped in the mom van, I felt my face — hot and red. I just sort of melted on the way to work. I told him about Sunday and about the crackers and about the time the 2-year-old stuck his hand in the toilet to retrieve — oh, nevermind. And the crumbs. “There were crumbs everywhere!” I told him. And then I cried some more.

I was achingly tired — mentally and physically. “And I had nothing to wear this morning.” OK, so I managed to slip that in there.

Hmmm. Trying to figure out why Mommy is so happy about this.

At my desk, I looked over my deadlines for the week and exhaled. I don’t have one single deadline this week. Can that be right? ‘Oh, thank you God, I so needed this!” I still have work — plenty of it. But, no monster deadlines. ‘God, thank you.’

You know what else I needed? Someone to take me away from it all — even if just for a moment.

You know what I got when noon rolled around? I got someone to take me away from all of it — for a heavenly moment. Hubby scooped me up on lunch break and took me to our favorite Mexican spot. And then, he said those words. The words that make most women melt. “Do you want to buy some shoes after lunch?”

Oh, I was giddy. No deadlines. Mexican food. And shoes!

I ended my day in my kickboxing class. So, I’ve gained 10 pounds over the last four months because I had to hang up the gym while I was working on a crazy project. But you know, something about buying new shoes and a hubby who is willing to do the whisking away during lunch hour. I walked in there — 10 pounds overweight and all — and thought, ‘Yeah, I’m back!’

Hmmm. I wonder if I could somehow recreate the scenario. You know, crumbs everywhere + mommy crying = four pairs of new shoes. I can say, “But, honey, there were crackers. Everywhere. Falling from the sky. It was the craziest thing.”