A Woman's Work – Brooke Basically Blogging

When we lived in Michigan Harrison and Sydney had simple chores.  I was thinking of a way to include Sydney.  We were all excited when she understood one to one correspondence and began counting. I found the perfect job for her.  Since she loved to line things up.  Sydney’s job was to count the rolls of toilet paper. Don’t judge that is a very important job.

She would love to count the rolls and write down the number that she counted.  I wish I had a sample of her writing from back then.  She has made so many gains with her fine motor skills.  I owe that to the wonderful occupational therapists that have worked with her.  Sydney can now write her name in cursive.  And she prefers to write her summaries now and not just type them on her iPad.

Back to the toilet paper.  This past March we were preparing for a winter storm. I just knew we would be snowed in for at least three days. In Delaware that means all of the bread, milk and eggs are sold out in the stores.  I made sure that we had enough food.  I had my wine.  I had gas for the snow blower and I had my wine.

Part of me wanted to pack up the kids and stay with my parents.  So we wouldn’t be alone.  But I also wanted to stay in the comfort of my own home with my kiddos.  And that is exactly what we decided to do.  I must admit that I forgot to check in with Sydney about her toilet paper responsibility.  Harrison quickly brought it to my attention that we only had one roll of toilet paper left.

Of course he tells me this when it’s 9:00 pm. He was in panic mode.  I told him not to worry. I always keep an extra roll of toilet paper in the truck for emergencies.  This would definitely be considered an emergency.  I asked Syd how are we doing on toilet paper and her reply was “Mom, we need more toilet paper.  I had to laugh.  But then I thought if we get snowed in and run out toilet paper this is not good.  At first I was going to call mommy and tell her we were coming over to borrow toilet paper.  As much as she loves me, she would never let me live this down.

Harrison was acting like zombies were coming or the world was coming to an end.  He kept saying “What in world are we going to do if we run out of toilet paper?”  My children are extremely grateful for the little things.  They are blessed but not spoiled.  Sometimes I have to remind them how old I was when I received certain privileges.

But when all else fails, I bring up the slaves.  Think about your ancestors.   I reminded them that the slaves didn’t have toilet paper. Then they both looked at me like I am crazy.  And Sydney starts googling slaves and ancestory.com on the internet. I told them we would be fine.  Jesus take the wheel, because this can’t backfire on me.  Before we went to bed we prayed. I reminded the kids that God always has a ram in the bush.  When you least expect it that is when God will show up with the answer to your prayers.

Now, I  guarded the toilet paper like The Secret Service. And waited for the snow totals.  God is good all the time. Because we didn’t get snowed in.  We actually only received less than an inch and mostly rain.  The toilet paper crisis was diverted. We did enjoy a snow day and didn’t run out of toilet paper.

Harrison will laugh every time we shop to make sure we have enough toilet paper. The moral of the story is always follow through  after your child does the chores.  Keep extra toilet paper. Any lesson can turn into a history lesson.

Tomorrow’s Blog:  All I Could Do Is Crawl