Love is patience in trying times

Life is filled with love, work, joy and sorrow. As I reflect on love in particular, I think of my children. Our children can make us laugh, and our children can make us cry. They cause us to smile, feel anger, irritation and complete ecstasy.

I was home with all my children Monday. One child had a doctor’s appointment an hour away. Another had a school project to work on, and my youngest, who is extremely active, was stuck in the house because of the rain. He caused a ruckus all day long! In the evening he sneaked into my bathroom and sprayed my Donna Karan perfume all over himself — the only bottle of perfume I use. I was worn out by this time.

I then overheard him ask his sister, “Don’t you wish the WHOLE world was Chuck E. Cheese?”

To which my 12-year-old daughter answered, “No. I like Chuck E. Cheese, but I also like my home and other aspects of the world.”

He interrupted her exuberantly.

“But Chuck E. Cheese is cool! Wouldn’t you be happy if the whole world was Chuck E. Cheese?”

This banter went back and forth for about five minutes. Finally, my eldest calmly told him, “Listen, I like Chuck E. Cheese, but you are not going to change my answer. You cannot convince me that I want the whole world to be Chuck E. Cheese. Sorry, my answer is going to remain the same.”

As all this was going on, I continued doing the dinner dishes, realizing I had laundry to finish and my column to write.

Some of this particular day at home exhausted me. There was a continuous mess to clean up with three children home on a rainy day. They did help me, but my youngest is so full of energy that one clean-up leads to another mess.

Other aspects of the day made me smile. While I was irritated by my son’s newfound interest in doing his hair — gel and mousse — when he kept going on and on about Chuck E. Cheese and I heard my daughter’s final reply, I smiled. Because this is life, and this is love. These are valuable moments.

As I loaded the final dishes into the dishwasher and washed the pans by hand, I thought about life. We often discover that some of our hardest times are later looked back upon with the fondest memories. My sleep-deprived newborn years depleted me, but they make me teary-eyed when I reflect upon them. This is why we need to appreciate what we have, even when it is difficult.