Holy shit what a fuckin week!!
Seriously, I have reached a point as a stay at home dad wherein I have no clue how anyone, of any gender, whose main responsibility is to maintain a household can do so for an extended period of time without losing their shit! Wow, props to moms (yes I know how stereotypical that statement is but you know what I mean).
I went away on vacation to visit family for a week, my goal – to rest, relax and catch up with family that I see maybe two to three times a year. Apparently while I was gone my family’s main goal was to collect as many take out boxes from as many restaurants as possible while letting the trash and laundry pile up. In a nutshell, my wife and daughter basically degenerated into a couple sorority-like slobs.
So my return consisted of basically me trying to put the household back in order. Now this experience certainly brought home, with fierce clarity, just how much I am actually needed by my family and how truly impactful my role as a stay at home dad is – I mean yes they have told me repeatedly this fact, that though I did not bring home a sizable paycheck, I do contribute in other ways, namely taking care of the household and the needs of all the inhabitants of said household. But oh my lord, I had no clue how right they were about it!
Yet as flattering as it was to actually see the impact I made, it was also jarring to see what happens when I’m not there. I asked my daughter “what the hell happened?” Her reply, “you weren’t there to keep us in line”. I didn’t even have a response to that. Like what the hell, are you all really that lazy, incapable of doing anything for yourselves, completely dependent or all of the above? I know that sounds really harsh to say about my family, I admit that; but I also can’t deny that these things were running rampant through my head.
I guess sometimes God just has a funny and the most least expected way of letting you realize just how needed you are.
And that being said, I got full time at my job a week after.
Yes finally!
But…oh no….. How the hell can I expect pandas raised in captivity to suddenly learn to adapt in the wild on their own?!