Dear Ben, If I seem mad at you later....

...for no apparent reason, let me explain. Whatever you were doing today - however overwhelming, stressful or annoying it may or may not have been, you didn't have to do it here. Here, this lovely home that I've created for our family, is not a happy place to be today. It's filled with screaming (me) and whining (them) and other annoying noises (the toys). Everyone is tired but won't sleep and hungry but won't eat.

Talya's little midnight soiree that she decided to hold in our bed last night has left us all at wit's end.

Plus, my aerobics class (the one in which I pretty much peed my pants in last week but still managed to get the courage to show my face in today) got canceled, which means my highly motivated exercise plan has been thwarted three times this week.

Also, it is about 93 degrees in here today, and though it is making me absolutely nuts, I just cannot stand the thought of turning on the air conditioning in the end of September when we are weeks away from cursing the wind chill.

Now, you might be thinking, "none of this is really my fault." Obviously, you're right, but if there's one thing we've learned the last nine years of bless - emotions are not always driven by facts. The facts are:

• I love these little people that are terrorizing me and seem pretty insistent on swinging anything that might be construed as a weapon at each others' heads. 
• I love you and value the work that you do and that you make every effort to be a part of the good and the wretched around here.
• You did not teach the kids to whine. (I may have, but who's pointing fingers?)
• PBS changed its lineup, and while this is also not your fault, it is so life-altering that it makes me mad at pretty much everyone, so don't take it personally.
• Even though I might be a bad influence on them, I wouldn't want to give up this privileged responsibility of caring for these three image-bearers to anyone else. (Other than Miss Morgan at the Y, Marisah on Wednesday nights, Mrs. Thomas at school, the lovely Sunday School and Children's church volunteers, childcare workers during Bible Study, and Miss Krista on Wednesday mornings... ohmygosh, this is why they're crazy - I'm an absent parent!)
• This too shall pass, and I'll be sad when it does. (By "this," I don't mean the whining, but I do mean the ages at which whining is so screechingly prevalent.)

See, I've mostly talked myself off the ledge. I've even opened the door to the closet I'm hiding in (mostly because it is freaking hot in here). But, all facts aside, if I remember correctly, your day involved a nice staff meeting during which was planned some sort of wedding celebration for our friends. If it involved cake, and you don't bring me some.... well, let's just say you've been warned.

All my heart,

Susie