Pay it forward

From a book I read a while ago:

... there was always the problem of what to do with the [casserole] dish. Decent people returned it full of something else. Which meant that the person to whom you returned it would be required, at some point, to give you another food item, all of which produced a cycle that was unimaginably tedious.

From A Light in the Window by Jan Karon. A book full of the little trials of life we all face at some point or another... assuming we've got a bit of domestic country in our souls.

Yesterday a young mother in the ward called me up (at my invitation) to watch her two older children so she could have a break from them while she cared for her new twins. I kept them for over 3 hours and fed them dinner and my kids ran them around so that hopefully they were totally tired by the time they got home and would just crash. She couldn't thank me enough (I'm not trying to give myself laurels here, bear with me) and felt bad about asking and shy at the inconvenience and worried that they'd behave, etc. I'm sure we've all been on both ends of this scenario.

I told her something then that I've experienced before but it never had sunk in quite so completely as it did when I explained it to her. I've been helped by other women, some of them mothers and some not, but that's what women do. We help each other. It's a gift we freely give in the hope that some day you'll be on your feet enough to help some other women who happen to need it. That woman might be me, maybe not. That sentiment echoed in my heart in a way it never had before and I was grateful for the opportunity to offer that small gift.

Yesterday was a very busy day. I dropped Princess off (no need to describe morning mayhem) and returned home to do two loads of dishes, laundry, clean the living room, and get my lesson ready for AFTB. Drop the two younger ones off at the CDC to find that despite two phone calls to make sure arrangements had been made, they hadn't. Oh, well. Get them dropped off and am now late to be there early, teach the very last class before graduation (about the least receptive period for any of the levels), go to pick up Princess, pick up the younger kids. Ha! Pebbles had a diaper rash and since I didn't tell them about it they were worried that they'd have to send her home. Tag also managed to dress himself that morning sans undies but with shorts, so there was some giggling as they got his spares out for him. Get home, the kind neighbor watched the older two while I took Pebbles to pick up those kids, get home, clean more since they were all playing so well. Got ambitious and made homemade pizza for dinner (sausage and roasted mushroom for me!). The kids played more until their dad came to pick them up. By then they had a hard time dragging themselves out the door, goal met!! Get our own kids into bed, snuggle with the hubby for about 10 mins before he was off to do homework and I was off to put my tired self into bed.

All in all, I was surprised at how much I got done yesterday. I was able to provide two acts of service and STILL get more cleaning done than I can on an average day. I'm starting to think that maybe I could pull this college thing off with four kids if I put a good bit of focus into it.