Family Life

I’m scheduled to take pictures of some of my machines at work, sometime this coming week. It’s time-consuming, because there’s a backdrop to set up, lights with their stands and umbrellas, camera and tripod, plus all the technical stuff like metering and white balance. This is compounded by the fact that the lights are ten to fifteen feet up in the air, so any adjustment requires clambering up and down a ladder. There’s added pressure because photos are right at the bottom of the priority list, so it’ll be left till the last minute and there will probably be a truck idling outside waiting for me to finish so they can load up the machine and deliver it to the customer. Time-consuming but rushed.

But it’s fun!

In the interests of being prepared, I set things up in the basement this afternoon and did some experiments to get a feel for how things might work on the day. All the boys were napping, it was quiet, no distractions, no rush. Ideal. I was having so much fun, right up until the boys woke up.

Their first question on waking: “Where’s my drink?” Second question: “Where’s Daddy?” And in less than a minute they’re calling down to me from the door at the top of the stairs. “Can we come down Daddy?” Sure. No problem. Put your shoes on because it’s not too clean down here.

In a flash Daniel and Joel are down in the basement, running around, riding a tricycle, throwing a ball. I figured, in for a penny, in for a pound, so I went and brought Micah down too, sitting him in his rocker where he could watch the fun.

And it didn’t take long for the fun to start. First there was Daddy apprehensively warning rowdy boys to watch out for all the gear that was set up. Then there were some complaints from the boys that Daddy’s gear was in the way. Then there were some complaints that the other boy wasn’t sharing. And that deteriorated into arguments and fights over who got to throw the ball or ride the trike. In the end eldest got banished upstairs. Youngest was frightened by all the commotion and was balling his little eyes out. And middle child was wandering around all lonely because he had nobody to play with.

So much for peace and quiet. I was done anyway. I packed everything up, fending off a toddler’s offers to “help.” Went upstairs and eventually got everybody back to a semblance of normalcy. Daniel was reading to himself in the living room, Joel was playing with magnetic letters on the fridge, and Micah was watching Debbie prepare a meal. Everybody in their own world, doing their own thing. Happy.

Ironic, isn’t it? Best way to keep the family together is keep the kids apart give everybody some space.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 11:06 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated if this is your first time, otherwise they will appear immediately. I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.