We’re on day 5 of my son’s horrendous stomach bug and to put it mildly, our house and everyone in it is in shambles. That sets the scene for:

1) My husband taking 2 unpaid days off this week

2) Me taking 3 unpaid days off this week

3) 3 gazillion loads of laundry

4) A shopping trip to buy 3 extra bedding sets because I can’t do laundry fast enough

5) 2 VERY tired parents, a frustrated healthy little girl, and a miserable, leaking-from-every-orifice, sick little boy.

And THAT sets the scene for my trip to the clinic today.

A trip made right after a naptime “incident” in which I almost had a heart attack thinking that my son had vomited blood. Nope, just red juice - heart rate slowed again.

The doctor walks in as I’m changing J’s diaper and gasps.

“Is that BLOOD?”

I stare down at J’s socks where she’s pointing and just. about. die.

Nope, that’s puke. Puke on his socks. Which I forgot to change when I was changing the bedding, his clothes, washing the carpet, and dealing with the general chaos of it all.

Yuck.

And I’m the mom who took her kid to the doctor with red puke on his socks.

I have no secrets, I guess. I’m just that mom. All the time.

Because I am always running so ragged, If I get an opportunity to spend a few moments with my children that are actually quality moments, I really take notice. Usually I have a laptop or a BlackBerry connected to me and I am giving them half of my attention.

So last night after work I stepped outside with them for an hour or so – leaving all things connected indoors - and we played in the sandbox. As we were playing the boys started to make “kid soup.” We had perfectly fine, beautiful, clean sand in our buckets and they started grabbing all kinds of items to add to it – grass, rocks, sticks, etc.

My first impulse was to think, “What the hell are you doing to this perfectly beautiful, clean sand we have? Don’t mess it up!”

But I caught myself. And I reminded myself that all day long I am controlling things. Sometimes, letting go of control is good. What do I care if the sand is not pristine? That soup we made and pretended to eat was delicious. And full of healthy ingredients, too – love, laughter, imagination.

Sounds corny, I know. But letting go of control and embracing a little chaos once in a while is good – and it’s one of the many wonderful lessons my children continue to teach me every single day.

Thanks, boys.