A Flashback

Last night, after dinner, Doug was still at work and I wasn't feeling good so I decided to lie down on the couch while the kids cleaned up the kitchen.  Having older kids is awesome!  They do all sorts of things that I don't want to do, like clean the kitchen after dinner, and I get to be a good mom for teaching them these important life skills.  As I was lying there on the couch, flipping through the channels on the television and listening to the chaos that ensued in the kitchen, I was whisked back to my own youth and became lost in the memories of all of the times my brother and I were stuck cleaning the kitchen after dinner.  I remember how my brother would always disappear right after dinner, saying that he had to go to the bathroom.  I used to get so mad that he would just take off and leave me with all of the mess to clean up by myself, only to conveniently show up when most of the work was done.  Fortunately it didn't take me too long to learn to just wait for him to come back to the kitchen so that we could clean together, his face sagging with that look of disappointment that I didn't do the work while he was gone.  Lucky for my miss Woo, Sparky has not learned that trick yet, but what he has learned is how to throw spaghetti noodles all over the kitchen, and at his siblings, trying to see where he can get them to stick.  Listening to this mischief is what sent me into my reverie.  My brother and I were always throwing noodles around the kitchen.  On the walls, on the ceiling, on each other, wherever we could get them to stick.  Sometimes this was done while the noodles were cooking, because you know a noodle is done if it sticks to the wall.  Sometimes this was done after dinner, just because they were sticky.  Either way, it was just us goofing off and prolonging the inevitable cleaning of the kitchen, just like my kids were doing last night.  Usually that sort of chaos drives me crazy, especially when I have a headache and I'm not feeling good, but last night I didn't care.  I just sat back and enjoyed the chaos and hoped that my kids would remember these times together fondly, just like I did.