Surrender?

Sometimes I think about just surrendering. I mean, what's the point? This summer has been especially hard--honestly its been longer than this summer, its been since I went back to work last summer. I'm not home to stay on top of all the crap, his or the kids.

He works from home and has had the children all summer while I've been at work each day. He has a friend that comes and helps him work and often the friend brings his young stepdaughter. Then there are the neighbor kids that come over and the cousins when the kids aunt comes over to help watch them.

NONE of them pick up after themselves.

Sigh...

We left on a trip this morning and the house was in a shambles--and before this summer, there is no way I would have left it that way. At least the dishes were clean.

Sometimes I have to choose my battles and weigh what is worth fighting over. My husband works from home which means that we have a lot of flexibility. It means someone is at home so the kids can be home. It also means that he gets to do some pretty cool stuff because of what his job is. Like right now, we have a new Dodge Caravan SXT on loan from Chrysler for a family trip to Detroit for the Woodward Dream Cruise--a big deal car show. We are driving it--and its fully loaded, I'm writing this post from the highway because the damn minivan has internet--to St. Louis where we will spend the night, take a ride to the top of the St. Louis Arch and take a ride on a river boat down the Mississippi. For Free, simply because my husband is a writer and will be publishing several magazine articles about this trip and the car show, as well as blog posts online.

In Chicago we will visit more sites--including world-class museums that I have dreamed of visiting for as long as I have known they existed. Then on to Detroit where we will have a tour of GM's private car museum, and passes to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Did I mention there is a 2010 Dodge Challenger awaiting us in Detroit? We will drive it around for the car show next weekend, then return it and drive the Caravan back home where we will have it for another week before they come pick it up and we return to our plain ol' Chevy Uplander without all the bells and whistles.

Sometimes you have to take the crap with the good--especially when the crap is a result of or allows us to experience so much good.