walking on eggshells

If you ever wonder what it is like to live with my kids, it is a never ending case of walking on eggshells. Every little thing could set them off on some absolutely bizarre tangent that you never know when to expect or how long it is going to last.

I remember early on, my oldest spilled some milk and then just left it. An entire cup of milk just spilled across the table. She just continued to eat and set stuff in it and carried on at the dining table without cleaning up the spill. Now she was probably around 12 years old, and when I asked her to go get a paper towel and clean this up, she absolutely lost it. She stood up and knocked over other things on the table and screamed at me that she did not have to clean it up and that she would never clean it up.

Gobsmacked would probably be the best description of how I felt in that moment. I think I eventually got her into her room where she continued to scream, throw things and just generally cause mayhem. Then I cleaned up the spill. To this day I have to remind her to clean up her spills, but she just generally grumbles about it with maybe some sighing and stomping involved.

As they grow older and we keep running into new situations, we continue to find new surprising hot button issues. I am no longer surprised by these outbursts. Some of these things I have learned to let go in favor of keeping the peace, but some I do stand firm on like cleaning up after one’s self. That is important to me and I believe most people would agree.

It is amazing how much abuse can be thrown at someone for something so small like asking to clean up milk that they spilled. Adoption is not for the faint of heart. It is a lifelong commitment. A journey that is not always appreciated. Yet you get up every day and begin again.