My mom wrote the following response to my poem, "Ode to My Messy House." After raising 6 kids who are now all grown and on their own, here is her perspective.
Ode to an Empty House by Laurel (Karen's mom)
It’s amazing to see a whole house stay so clean
When not one single child all month it has seen.
The dishes are few and the spills don’t exist.
There are many less cleaning chores down on my list.
The bathrooms are tidy, the laundry stays done.
I find I am forced to make messes for fun.
The carpets stay fluffy, the floors keep their shine.
There’s barely a clean-up whenever we dine.
I have so many more hours of free time to spend.
Those years of hard work suddenly came to an end.
The house stays so quiet, each room is so still.
There are so many hours of time I must fill.
And though I am grateful for this stage of ease
And I have to admit that life now is a breeze,
I find that I miss all that chaos and mess
Between lonely and chaos, I like lonely less!
And so I accept the life changes that come.
After thirty plus years my parenting’s done.
But I would gladly take back all the stress and the clutter
Just to have one child ask me for bread and some butter.
1 comment:
I agree with your mom. I really miss having children in my home. I not only miss my own children, I miss their friends as well. My home was noisy, chaotic, messy and occasionally, blood was flowing. However, it certainly beat the silence that we have now.
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