Confessions of a new parent: the one about the tail light

One of the unexpected things that happens when you adopt 3 children at once is that people begin to look at you differently; some as if you should be fitted with a halo & others as if you should be fitted with a straightjacket.

When the former happens, we turn to look behind us to see who it is they are looking at with the awe-filled expression on their faces. In the case of the latter, we recognize that the look is directed at us & respond appropriately. The definition of appropriate is, in this case, relative based on how tired we are.

Since you do not get the opportunity to look at me with either the “what is the circumference of your forehead” or “how quickly can we get you in this nice jacket with the really long sleeves” look, perhaps we could occasionally provide you with a little evidence & let you decide how you should be peering at me through your monitor. Welcome to ‘True Confessions of a New Parent’.

During our first days of flailing about in the deep end of the parenting pool, I forgot that we were only parking one car in the garage & the other in the driveway due to the enormous influx of bicycles, scooters, skateboards & other wheeled paraphernalia that comes with 3 children. I got in the car in the garage & promptly backed it into the car in the driveway. Good thing I pay the car insurance, right?

After surveying the damage, I found myself standing outside of the bathroom door holding a piece of a tail light that should never be away from the car. Certainly not being fondled by a nervous new mother while standing outside a bathroom listening to a shower & having the following conversation through the door:

“Remember how you were saying you wanted to get a bigger car?”

“I can’t hear you over the shower.”

(of course you can’t, because the only thing that makes a silly mistake more fun to talk about is to have to shout about it.)

“REMEMBER HOW YOU WERE SAYING YOU WANTED A BIGGER CAR? BECAUSE WE ARE GETTING 3 KIDS?”

“YEAH…”

“I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA… BECAUSE IF YOU HAD A BIGGER CAR I COULD SEE IT IN THE DRIVEWAY WHEN I BACK UP…”

Three things happened the following week:

Our boys moved in permanently. 

We got a bigger car.

I started parking in the driveway.