Chaos and Silence on a Summer Day

By Veronica

I have never been this tired.

Okay, that’s not true. I have been this tired, but not recently. Today we took care of my brother’s kids (ages 8, 6 and 4), which added three more to our four. It was loud and chaotic and fast and blurry and riotous.

It was glorious.

There is something about a throng of children in my home. Their constant games, their laughter and invention, the energy that swirls around the waist-high crowd – it is the mortal enemy of boredom. Whatever else comes with seven kids, tedium is rare.

At one point in our whirlwind day, I asked my husband, “Oh, honey. Doesn’t it make you wish we had seven?”

“NO,” he said.

Then he thought a little. “If we had seven children,” he concluded, “I would take A LOT of voluntary overtime.” And that was his last word on the subject.

The children are gone now. My brother and sister-in-law joined us for dinner, chatted while the children played, and then they all said good night. My own girls fell asleep immediately, utterly wasted by the cousin excitement. Even Az went to bed early.

I am sitting alone in a comfortable chair, listening to the stillness of the night.

And it is glorious, too.

4 Responses to Chaos and Silence on a Summer Day
  1. melissa
    July 28, 2009 | 3:01 am

    can I say that just 3 kids aged 4, 10 months & 6 months exhaust me? When my pup & his 2 cousins meet I feel drained of all energy within a couple of hours hehehe

  2. edj
    July 28, 2009 | 8:24 am

    When I was a child, I longed to be a part of a huge family, and I always thought I’d have LOTS of kids. But I found myself perfectly contented with my 3. Last time we were in the US, I spent a couple of weekends mingling my 3 with my friend’s 7, watching them while she and her husband got a break. It went fine, and all the kids are great, but it certainly did not make me regret my decision to stop after the twins 🙂 My friend, on the other hand, is an excellent mother of a large brood, and cheerfully and calmly adds in extra children to the mix for sleepovers, etc.

  3. candace
    July 28, 2009 | 3:25 pm

    Children are great! I always imagine myself with children. Reality set in when I had my son. I love children but I think after teaching 30 kids all day I am exhausted and love coming home to just my one!

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