When the Children Have Grown Up

One of these days you’ll shout, “Why don’t you kids grow up and act your age?” And they will. Or, “You guys get outside and find something to do…and don’t slam the door!” And they won’t. You’ll straighten up the boy’s bedroom neat and tidy…bumper stickers discarded…spread tucked and smooth…toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet…animals caged. And you’ll say out loud, “Now I want it to stay that way.” And it will.

 You’ll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn’t been picked to death and a cake

with no finger traces in the icing and you’ll say, “Now, there’s a meal for company.” And you’ll

eat it alone. You’ll say, “I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around, no

pantomines, no demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?” And you’ll have it. No more plastic

tablecloths stained with spaghetti. No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from the damp

bottoms. No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps. No more clothespins

under the sofa. No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent. No more sand on the sheets. No

more iron-on patches. No more knotted shoestrings, tight boots or rubber bands for pony tails.

 Imagine a lipstick with a point on it. No baby sitter for New Year’s Eve. Washing only

once a week. No PTA meetings. No car pools. No one washing her hair at 11 PM. Think about it!

No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste. No more tooth fairy. No giggles

in the dark. No knees to heal, no responsibility.

 Only a voice crying, “Why don’t you grow up,” and the silence echoing, “I did!”

Author Unknown