All of the Hard Work- No Whining!

The other day I remembered a conversation I once had with Biscuit's dad. During said conversation I was in school at UC and was on the downhill side of a particularly difficult week-- I had three papers due, one midterm, and Halloween AND Biscuit's sixth birthday all fell within that seven-day span and by Saturday afternoon all I wanted was to go home and fall into bed. Which, right after the cake and pizza and party guests were gone, I immediately did. Honestly, I think I slept a total of twenty hours that week. Except for Saturday, when I went sixteen hours straight and would have gone longer had Mimzi not made me get up to eat. All throughout college there were super cycles like that, when everything came due the same week. Don't get me wrong-- although sometimes it wasn't fun and it required a heapinhelpin of self-discipline and caffeine along with the patience of Job, I was intensely grateful each and every single day to have had the opportunity to make a better life for Biscuit and myself.

Anyway, what was relevant enough about that conversation to make me remember it six and a half years later was that Biscuit's dad told me, "You will never have to work as hard in the real world as you're working right now."

The nanosecond I remembered this, I started laughing SO HARD I nearly wet my pants. Obviously, he never thought I'd have twins. I'm sorry, but the world doesn't get any more real than that!!! I think what got me to racking my brain was a combination of sleep-deprivation (Beans sleep very well, but their gums bother them through the night so even though they only wake up intermittently, I'm always on alert and never get the same kind of sleep I did before) and having run into a friend whom I hadn't seen in several years. We were chatting about the girls and how life has changed since having them (always a conversation that could go on for a very, very, very long time) when she said, "Never wish the time away."

Now, I get a LOT of instructive comments from varied and numerous sources. Most of it I toss because to be honest, it's mental Craps. Sweet and well-intentioned, but Craps nonetheless. But I paused on this one.

I sincerely don't believe I ever have or even could wish away any of this. While having the Beans, Biscuit, YD, and Katie have completely and utterly changed Hubby's and my lives, and although I would NEVER wish the stress and discomfort of a multiple pregnancy on even my worst enemy, there is not a single thing I would have done differently. Every single moment, no matter how tired or annoyed I am, no matter how great an inconvenience something is, the joy we get from having them all in our lives outshines any of the dullness the negativity casts on us.

And, without the Beans we'd never get to have fun like

Putting them in silly hats.

Seeing Hubby wear a space suit.

And seeing how creative an entertainer Biscuit is.

But I know that every time someone says to me "Oh, I wish I had twins!", even though I will smile and say something polite in response, I will always think about all the hard work these days (today) demand and what these days took out of me (>>>>>>>)

with the knowledge that I will never love working so hard at anything else.