Recently, my daughter’s birthday was coming up and (in my usual mom style) I had a menu ready, a shopping list written, and cake ideas pinned on Pinterest.
And, then I got sick. Like, flat in bed sick.
My sweet husband agreed to go shopping for me. But here’s the thing, the man has never faithfully followed a shopping list in his life. His creative side comes out in the grocery store and somehow fish balls, ghost peppers or some other exotic food jumps into his cart.
This time, he ignored my well-thought-out list and went rogue once again. He knew our daughter loves seafood and so he proceeded to buy every seafood he could find. I’m glad I was too sick to look at the receipt, the price was probably astronomical.
He did not, however, buy any vegetables or side dishes. Nope, it was all meat and seafood.
Credit: iStock | Villagemoon
On the day of the party, no one cleaned the house, and there were no decorations.
Once the smoker was started, my husband realized that he didn’t know how to cook most of the seafood he had bought. From bed, I could hear my kids looking recipes up on their phones and yelling instructions to each other. If I had been cooking, the recipes would have been printed out and the ingredients all ready.
The cooking commenced, but instead of making sure all the food was done at once (a talent most moms have mastered) this group of motley chefs cooked each item one at a time. So, the meal went like this: Scallops. Eat those and then start cooking the next course. Salmon. Wait while that cooks and then eat again. Oysters, … you get the idea.
I laid in bed and heard all the chaos. What a nightmare. They were also using a new round of plates for each “course” and I could just visualize the mess in my kitchen.
They finished their marathon cooking day with a piece of banana bread with a candle stuck in it. There was no cake or ice cream for my daughter, just banana bread from the coffee shop.
Credit: iStock | Dlerick
But, throughout the day, I also heard laughter. Lots and lots of laughter as they dropped things and burnt things and made messes. They were loving their chaotic, crazy party.
There was so much I could have taught them, so many things they were doing “wrong”, but I ended up learning more that day than they did. I always thought the goal of a party was to have it run smoothly without any glitches. I learned that sometimes the glitches are the fun parts. I also learned that life goes on when mom is sick. It may go on in more expensive and chaotic ways, but it does go on.
I hope to loosen my control and expertise and let chaos reign every once in a while. It took getting sick to teach me that.
Read more of Ann’s contributions to allmomdoes here.
