How we drive

(Pre-script:This post is best paired with the song," "Big Yellow Taxi," Covered here by the Counting Crows. Go down to the playlist, click on that song, , then come back and read. I'll wait.) (...still waiting...)

It tends to be a loud process.

The children cannot get into the car quietly, and today,

they are arguing, about blah blah blah and fill in the blank. They tend to argue loudly.

I am usually satisfied to have everyone in the car dressed and wearing two shoes each. I don't even care that Ethan is wearing a tiger costume and a Superman cape. He was going to wear a hat, but decided not to, because "Tiger's don't wear hats." I don't even care that Jeremy is wearing two mismatched shoes, one flip flop and one sandal, and it's January 2nd...and not an unseasonably warm January 2nd at that. We're only going to the gym.

The children always sit in the same seats, but Kristina likes to resurrect an old argument from time to time, that it's not fair; today, she adds that Jeremy didn't "earn" his seat. So it's not fair. and blah blah blah, and fill in the blank.

In my head, I am silently praying "Please, just help us to get along and love each other today; and if that's too much to ask, at least just let us get along. And if that's too much to ask...help."

I turn up the radio and sort of bop and sing along, "are we human, or we dancer? My sign is vital, my hands are cold..."

Kristina says: "I see a large cloud that looks like a dinosaur."

I say:"Oh, yeah."

Jeremy says:"I think I see it too!"

Ethan says:"Me TOO!!"

Natalie says:"The dino-hore, the dino-hore!"

and for one moment, we are all united in vision, buckled in our speeding minivan.

The kids keep chattering and I keep singing and zoning out, "So what, I'm still a rock star, I've got my rock moves, and..."

and Kristina says:"I think God is giving me a message: I saw a heart, a dinosaur, and an alligator in the clouds, and I think He's telling me that he loves me, but that there will be danger, but that He will protect me."

Ethan says:"Jesus is saying that he sees the little animals"

Jeremy says:"That's not what you mean."

Kristina says:"I think God is telling me that He loves me, but I need to be careful with small animals, because I saw a lot of small animals in the clouds."

And now we are here, arrived.

But my little peeps have trouble getting out of the car, too. I say "Get out, we're here now" They act as though I have just told them to sit there and blink. And stretch. And yawn. Because driving to the gym has worn them out.

So I say "Dude, we're here, get out!"

The only response comes from Kristina:"Oh and I saw the letter "C," too.

-XOXO,