I started my day like many of you. You know, the typical. Prayer and meditation, working out, making coffee, starting the workday and watching videos on picking bathroom locks. What's that? Oh, you didn't pick locks today? Okay, well, perhaps I started the day like most of us who have been fortunate enough to have boys with idle time on their hands. I'm sure I'm not the first to pick a few bathroom locks before noon.
It's winter break for our school. No biggie. Just a couple of days out for the kiddos. We're doing what we've done the past year. . .nothing. Covid-19 has sufficiently put an end to our travel for a bit. On the upside, we've saved money. On the side-eye side, we've found new ways to enjoy indoor entertainment, such as 'Let's lock the bathroom doors and time who can open them the quickest. Sounds like fun, right? Plus, we're boys, we can pee outside if we can't unlock 'em. Let's do this!' This is my what-probably-went-through-their-minds mommy moment to help rationalize the absurdity of this adventure. It's been an eventful morning. Oh, and did I mention that I work from home and have zero time to figure out how to unlock doors.
Confession moment, I've never been great at using those generic locks the builder left over the bedroom and bathroom doors some twenty-plus years ago. The truth is, I never thought I would have to, but then again, I didn't have the boys yet. Now, I understand. I'm sure it's some safety measures behind it, but I'm also willing to bet that some unfortunate parent discovered that having kiddos, especially boys, would someday warrant having a way to unlock random doors around your home.
You would think having my well-planned schedule interrupted by total kiddo nonsense would upset the apple cart. But not so much now. We laughed today. I mean, hard-down laughed, and then I joned the heck out of my sons for not being able to unleash the locked door dragon. I mean, how are you going to challenge each other to something that affects the whole household and then have the nerve to walk away hoping you could pee outside the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Mimi and I wonder if that last bottle of water will come back to bite us. But, we laughed. We watched videos. We learned a lesson or two. And, we enjoyed the moment.
As a parent, I've learned that every action doesn't require the kingdom to fall apart. This pandemic has laid bare that it's a blessing to be alive, together, in a home with multiple bathrooms. This could have easily led to a lecture about consequences and repercussions, and it probably would have pre-pandemic. But today, we laughed and let it go. One day, I hope they share this memory with their children and fondly embrace the times that the world stopped for a while, and we came out of it with more patience, love, lessons, laughter and some lock picking skills.
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