Capture The Moment

The baby is teething, the children are fighting, and 
your husband just called and said to eat dinner without 
him. Okay, one of these days you’ll shout, "Why don’t 
you grow up and act your age."  And they will.
Or, "You guys get outside and find yourself something 
to do. And don’t slam the door!" 

And they won’t.

You’ll straighten up their bedrooms all neat and tidy 
with bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and 
smoothed, toys all displayed on the shelves, hangers 
in the closets, animal caged, and you’ll say out
loud, "Now I want it to stay this way!" 

And it will.

Then you’ll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that 
hasn’t been picked to death, a cake with no finger 
traces through the frosting, and you’ll say, "Now, 
there’s a meal for company." 

But, you’ll eat it alone.

And you’ll say, "I want complete privacy on the phone. 
No dancing around, no pantomimes, no demolition crews. 
"Silence! Do you hear me?" 

And you’ll have it.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti, 
no more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent, no 
more dandelion bouquets, no more iron-on patches, 
no more wet-knotted shoe strings, no more tight 
boots, or rubber bands on ponytails.

Imagine your lipstick with a point. No baby sitter 
on New Year’s Eve. Washing clothes only once a week. 
No PTA meetings, no car pools, no blaring radios, 
having your own roll of tape, no more Christmas 
presents made of toothpicks and paste, no more 
wet-oatmeal kisses, no tooth fairy, no giggles in 
the dark, no knees to Band-aid. Only a memory of 
a voice crying, "Why don’t you grow up?"

And in the silence will come the echo, "I did."