it gets better

I was supposed to meet an astronaut today. This was supposed to be once-in-a-lifetime chance. An astronaut, a female astronaut who worked on Space Station was meeting with the public at a local museum. The catch? The timing was 6:30 to 8:30.

Dinnertime. Bedtime. Cranky time.


And my husband was not able to be home.

And none of the babysitters were available.

I told the boys about the astronaut. I told them we could meet her if they got their schoolwork done early and without fuss and I got all the cooking out of the way. They agreed. I started plotting for a crazy evening.

But this morning started badly and then it all went downhill from there. One boy blatantly ignored his work, another stomped off to his room for the second (or is it fifth?) day in a row because it is all too hard and he DOESN'T HAVE to do it and he DOES NOT KNOW A THING!

I did not nag them. I took 3 yo and a baby for a walk around the block. The boys did not want to come. I took a deep breath and finished my shabbos cooking. 9 yo drew up a crazy animal with survival gear for the desert. This was not on the agenda. 7 yo said that he needs help with EVERYTHING, then threw his pencil again.

I took another deep breath.

Nursed, made lunch, put chicken in the oven.

As the day went on, there went my chance to meet the astronaut.

The boys did finish their work. 7 yo took exactly 15 minutes to do all his math, but he sulked about it for hours. 9 yo took five minutes to write up 15 mitzvot from Kedoshim, but he fumed and refused to do it for half an hour. 9 yo knew all the words in the new pesukim in Chumash and even reminded me to review yesterday's pesukim, but he fought for fifteen minutes with 3 yo about who gets to sit next to me in the crack of the couch.

I bit my lip till dinner. Then 9 yo violently protested that I wrote up fish-n-chips, but served shabbos leftovers. I said that not everything goes as planned, such as this astronaut thing. Then they looked at me, wild-eyed. Oh, they forgot. They would have behaved and done everything quickly and could we please still go?

It was 6. No, we were not going.

In another life I would have a magic wand to make everything better. Its name would be au pair. She would be young, giggly, and willing to drive my kids anywhere at the drop of a hat, take them to the park, on hikes, run out to the store to get milk and eggs, read stories, give baths, hold the baby.

In another life my kids would be infallible, too, so I would not need an au pair.

In another life I would get a second chance to meet this astronaut.

But I only have this life. And this life is bound to get better. As Shania said, it can only go up from here.