Transcendence

There was an evening last week, that prompted me to develop a new mantra. "Rise above." We had been eating dinner as a family, but the kids were very antsy. One by one, they finished their meal and asked to leave the table to go play. At that point, I didn't much care what they did as long as it didn't interfere with me finishing my dinner. (Please, if you know what is good for you, do not get between me and my food.) 

As PJ and I sat there enjoying the rest of dinner, chaos was unfolding around us. They were jumping, running, tagging, and wrestling. Which quickly led to yelling, fighting, crying, and screaming. The noise level was ridiculous even for a house with five children. It certainly wasn't the norm for dinner time. PJ and I just looked at each other and shrugged. We decided that they were going to have to work it out and we continued enjoying the meal. We came to the realization that, as long as there was no bloodshed, we were going to rise above the noise and pretend that we were eating in peace. 

I'm sure that most people would have been absolutely horrified by the scene, but we figured it was a battle that we would lose. We chose not to fight. The kids were tired and cranky. The only solution for that would be an early bedtime. So we ate our dinner and tuned out the nonsense. (Which, trust me, was a super-human feat.) As soon as we were done, we ushered them off to bed.

We'll just have to be sure to remember this night if we ever decide to throw a fancy dinner party. Which is, of course, super-likely. (Do they make a "sarcasm" font?) In lieu of hors d-oeuvres, we'll pass trays of ear plugs.

Watch me chant serenely while my kids scream like fools...

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