Serenity?

I am sitting here at my desk and it is almost 9pm, which is about half an hour past my bedtime these days.  But despite my tiredness, I just had to share with you my little story of this evenings events.  We will title this little drama - "The mom, the bath, and the 6yr old".  Now you might be thinking that it is about a mom trying to give a 6yr old a bath; WRONG!

It is about a weary mama who has been working extremely hard at trying to get this house organized and cleaned, who decided that she would like to take a hot bubble bath this evening and have some alone time.  I know, what was I thinking!

I have spent the last two days cleaning out my garage, I am still not done but didn't get as far as I thought I would today because I believe I have given myself a hernia.  Seriously, I have a pain right below my belly button.  So I called it quits and walked back into the house with a forced smile on my face and quickly shoved the dogs off the couch and laid down to see if said pain would subside. It really hasn't and after awhile I did confess to my husband that I think I have pulled a muscle or possibly given myself a hernia and mumbled something to the extent of "While moving the full-size refrigerator in the garage by myself".  The look on his face was a mixture of "I'm sorry your hurting" and "You were doing what by yourself?".

Anyways, after I made it through dinner, I decided to try and take a relaxing bath and have some quiet time.  I honestly don't remember the last time I took a bath, probably at least 6 years ago and that would be if you count sitting in a few inches of hot water while very pregnant trying to ease the hemorrhoids.  Sorry, but I must speak the truth, you read this at your own risk.

I started the bath, put in my new bubble bath that I got for Christmas from my 6yr old, applied a great facial and slowly climbed in. Ahhh Serenity!!! I had my eyes closed for maybe a minute when this odd feeling came over me. I slowly opened one eye and realized that I was not alone.  How can this be? I specifically announced to the entire family, dogs included that I was going to go take a quiet bath and have some alone time and try to figure out if I had in fact given myself a hernia.

I look over to the side of the tub and there sits the 6yr old, with her bangs in her eyes, wearing the nightgown that she had put on at 4 o'clock this afternoon because she decided that she wasn't going to leave the house again and therefore it was a good idea. "Hi Mama" she said with a huge smile on her face, "Are you enjoying your quiet and alone bath?"

I smiled and gently reminded her that I wasn't alone if she was in there with me.  Her reply was "But I love my mama" now some of you rookies may think that those little words would melt my heart, not!  This was a total manipulation move on her part and both of us knew it.  The little twinkle in her eye was the dead giveaway, now before you think that I am ruthless, I know that she loves her mama and she knows that I know she loves her mama and we both know that this is the statement that she makes when she doesn't want to obey!  I gave her the look and pointed towards the exit and she pushed out her lower lip and headed for the door.

About 5 minutes later, I am trying to relax in the now warm water when I hear the door open and hear something crawling along the floor.  Yes, the 6yr old trying to be sneaky.  I lift my head so that I can see her and she looks up and says "I love you mama".  I take a deep breath and again try to explain to her that I need sometime alone.  By the time I am done explaining this fact she has made her way into the tub (well, at least her feet).  I then realize that the water is now tepid at best, there are no longer any bubbles remaining and we both can see all my fat rolls under water and I am pretty much convinced that I do have a hernia. This is when Daddy walks in and looks at me with sympathetic eyes and I shake my head to scolding he would have delivered and say "Never mind, it's not going to happen"

I am not mad or even really frustrated, that goes to show how far I have come in my quest for peace, in fact, as I am sitting here typing this out I have a smile on my face.  Even if I don't get that alone time very often I do have serenity in my spirit.  Now, who do I see about hernias?