Bad, bad word

As Chris travels less and less, I think I am out of practice on the single parenting gig. For a while, I was like a mommy machine tackling single parenthood and juggling three kids, a dog and a job with ease. Okay, not ease really. More like tackling all of the above with a whole lot of yelling, a whole lot of red wine and a big ol' case of cranky pants.

But now. It isn’t with so much ease (or lack thereof). Chris was gone for a week in November on a work trip (Vegas, hardship, right?), returned for a few days and then was back on the road for another four days (Orlando, more hardship). It wasn’t easy. We all struggled. I was grumpy, the kids were cranky and the dog found every mud puddle to roll out his frustration.

But then Chris returned and we all breathed a big sigh of relief.

This morning, Chris had a very early start to his day and was out of the house before the boys and I were even awake. In our crazy morning dash, Aidan and Brennan missed the bus, so I loaded all three boys into the car for morning drop off before work. It was only then that I realized I had to drop off a file at one of my law firm’s partner’s home first. He lives only a few miles from us, but his house is not visible from the road and I couldn’t remember where it was. I looked at long driveway after long driveway until I finally took a gamble and turned into one that looked familiar.

It wasn’t the right house.

The driveway was long and curved and had deep ditches on both sides. This meant I could not turn the car around, but had to carefully back up the car and avoid driving the car, myself and the three kiddos into a big ditch.

I am not a good backer upper. Even the boys will routinely pray any time I go to back up a car. It is not pretty.

After I missed a turn and almost sent the car over the sides of the driveway, I clutched the steering wheel in frustration and yelled as loud as I could, “SHIT!”

There is absolute silence from the backseat and then I hear a gleeful, “Shit!”

Oh no.

I turn my head and see Brennan grinning at me. “Brennan! Boys – that is not a good word. I shouldn’t have said that word, okay?”

“Shit isn’t a good word?” Aidan asked.

“Why can’t we say shit?” Brennan continued.

“Shit!” Griffin yelled.

“Shit?” Brennan said again.

“How can a word like shit be a bad word?” Aidan asked over his brothers yelling.

“Okay, no more. It is not a good word and we are not going to use it again, understood?” I finally manage to get myself out of the driveway and find the right house. I drop the file off, get back into the car and take a deep breath.

As I pull away, I catch the boys' eyes in the rear view mirror and say quietly, “I want everyone to remember that we are not going to use that word again today, okay?”

Brennan looks up at me and says with a sigh, “Huh, I think I actually already forgot it mom.”

Aidan is gazing out the window and he turns to look at me as he says, “I remember it. Do you want me to spell it for you?”

I have one word for that. SHIT!