The Home Invasion

My husband and I were settling in for a quiet afternoon prior to the Super Bowl. I readied myself for a leisurely afternoon walk, comfy clothes, and some freshly simmering chili. Then, I received a caller ID notification from my daughter-in-law on my cell phone.  “Hi,” I said, expecting to hear Colleen’s voice.

“NONA,” I heard my 7-year-old grandson, Daniel, obviously through a car speaker. His voice sounded a bit emergent. “We have a gas leak, we’re coming over.”

And so began the week long invasion of my son, his wife, and their 5 children under the age of 7. Matthew’s very robust family live in an older home, so suffice it to say the detection of a gas leak led to a pandora’s box of problems – literally one pipe connection after another. Oh, did I mention we were also well into a previously scheduled week-long visit with our Natalie (stay with me here….my other son’s daughter), age 18 months?

Within minutes, the influx of vigorous energy ran through the garage door, and suddenly in addition to being Super Bowl Sunday, it was Super Pandemonium Sunday. Watching those commercials is overrated anyway, especially when you can listen to a constant stream of the nursery rhyme, “When I Woke Up Today,” playing on repeat. I’m still hearing it in my sleep, and I can still see Natalie’s hips shake.

So, let me give you a glimpse into our week of multigenerational bedlam. First, within hours, our dining room was transformed into Lego central. The family room had a constant line-up of counting cows, and my husband and I jumped right into “all hands on deck” for school mornings when shoes were lost, lunches needed to be packed, and sunny side up eggs needed to have just the right amount of yoke runniness.

I mean, honestly, who needs kitchen drawers when dish towels and all sizes of Tupperware containers can be splayed all over the kitchen floor. It makes matching the right sized lid with the coordinating container quite easy. And I just came up with the perfect Shark Tank idea: How to magnetize cans to rotating lazy-susan shelves so that cute little ones can’t empty the contents of the shelves onto the floor in the amount of time it takes to switch the laundry. Paw Patrol water toys are still adhered to the tub, and I think I will forever be finding little socks and size 2T undies in my laundry until June.

Quite honestly, I have no clue if I wore my clothes right side out during this time of home invasion. I did shower every day, so that was a success. The chaos was real, and truth be told, I don’t think it’s a good idea to make home invasions with my adult children and their families a permanent thing. However, there is so much takeaway value to such time.

When little chubby arms reach for the comfort of your embrace, the value of tidy cabinet drawers becomes less important. When Natalie wants to sit on your lap and read “Goodnight Moon” for the 47th time, the uncorralled counting cows all over the floor mean nothing. And then there’s the after school moment when Daniel and his siblings blow in the door from school. I had many moments this week that connected me to years past when the enthusiasm and expanded world born from a day at school meets the kitchen table.

So, as I send this piece to the Dayton Daily News for publication, here’s the update. The gas leak is still not fixed, and no, I’ve still not found the TV remote. But no worries, I am in full authentic Nona world where imperfection rules and order is overrated.