When you are in that place

Some days you need two hands for the kids, two more for the stuff they asked you to carry and five more for the weekly food-shop bags.

Some days you despair at having spent the whole day cleaning, just to find that the little buggers have gone behind you, tipping everything out and scribbling on the furniture with a rogue ballpoint (that shit doesn't come off by the way).

Some days you are so tired that you can't find the energy to make yourself food to eat, but instead you find yourself scraping the bottom of the barrel to make your kids sandwiches that look like pirate boats, because that's what they asked for, and you love to make them smile.

Some days you do three loads of washing, hang them all out, feel proud of yourself and then find at least five more loads worth in the bedrooms.

Some days you feel so lonely, like nobody else could ever know how it feels to make the horrible decisions that you as a parent have to make every day; how to solve sleeping problems and tantrums, how to get past the latest phase, how to deal with crazy, exhausting timetables.

Some days you feel as though you are the only one who cares about these things; that if you stopped caring, the whole world would collapse - the dishes would never get done, nobody would ever have a bath, teeth would go unbrushed and turn black and fall out, children would escape onto the streets in front of oncoming traffic, everyone would go hungry.

Some days, all you want is nothing more than to curl up and sleep, to hide in the cupboard under the sink and close your eyes and melt into blackness.

When you are in that place, know this: there is an army of people out there who feel the same as you.

You!

That the older you grow, the more you realise that nobody knows what they are doing - they are all equally unaware as to how their future lies.

That your days are punctuated by happy bits, however small they may seem.  They do exist for those who look for them.

That what is happening now will not be that way forever.

That life is short.

That one day, you'll realise, these are the best days.

Treasure them. You ain't getting them back.

Dave: 'My Name Is Earl'