Tuesday, June 1, 2010

All Mine


Strangers say the darndest things.  One that I hear quite frequently is "Are they all yours?!"  Sometimes it's asked with awe, sometimes with simple astonishment and I swear that sometimes, it comes with more than a hint of horror... as in "they couldn't possibly ALL be yours, could they?!" 

No matter how the question is posed, it strikes me as a bit odd.  I mean really, why would I go through the hassle of lugging so many kids around if they didn't all belong to me?  And where praytell might I find a bunch of babies who look curiously alike to one I already have?  I mean really people, the triplets are identical!  Of course they all belong to me!

Despite the number of times I've fielded this rather obtrusive and bizarre query, I found myself suddenly struck by a similar thought as we took all the kids to the pool for the first time last weekend.  As I observed their jolly splishing and splashing, I couldn't help but think something like this...

YIKES!!! ALL these kids belong to me! And all five of them are near/in the water!  And only one of them can swim!  We need swim lessons!  We need life jackets!  I need octopus arms!  Oh where oh where did my husband go?! 

My panic subsides as he returns and together we watch our brood frolic poolside.  With a certain smug satisfaction, we look at each other and smile.  Because they are indeed ours.  All ours.  And that makes us pretty darn lucky.

1 comment:

Aunt Kristin said...

I just love this post and the picture! They look so adorable! And I liked the way you ended it - rather touching.

PS - how do you get the babies to keep their hats on? mine just eats them, and bibs too.