Discrimination?

I've been discriminated against! Alas, the children were playing very nicely in a tent they had set up in the basement. I turned aside from my work to listen to them as they prepared play food for each other and served in a mannerly way far more politely than at our usual family table. I crouched down on my hands and knees to see if I could take a peek inside. Alas, the entrance was blocked by Tigger's back, so I tickled him several times to surprise him. It didn't work. He thought I was one of them and kept on playing. Finally, I made a noise and was found out by the children. They gleefully yelled "Yikes! It's a Mommy!" (as we sometimes play Mommy Monster) and they rushed out to me.

We chatted a little about what they were playing. They were eager to get back to their game and acted like I had "work" to do in ushering me along. I asked them if I couldn't play as well as I was taking a break. Dibs responded slowly trying to make a clear point, "Sure! YOU can play, IF you can fit in the tent!"

The words were like daggers into my heart because I was on the receiving end of an unjust rule. Of course I couldn't fit into their little tent, but how many times do they feel small in our big world? Suddenly for me all of life were turned on its head and scales fell from my eyes. The room, which up until then looked to any adult like a tornado ripped through, now transformed. Instead of an upheavaled couch and toys everywhere I saw a magnificent fortress and carefully placed armaments. I saw the booby traps, catapults and missiles gone awry. I saw the leavings of a feast set before a king. Instead of game pieces strewn about, I saw a map set in place for strategic planning. There was no order to my mind, but a wonderful order perfectly executed by the imagination of the little ones.

I received little sympathy from Sweety upstairs when I told her about the event. She said, "Don't dwell on it, Mom. Besides, shouldn't you be fixing dinner?"

The hurt in my heart wasn't clear to me all at once, but revealed little by little. Here was a world right before my eyes that I haven't been privy to for quite a while. Like Peter Pan, I had grown up and strayed too long in an adult world of responsibilities and a list of "things to do". For sure laundry must be done, meals must be prepared and order must be maintained in a house of so many, but as a mother I must be very careful in doing these things with a proper state of mind. How quickly all this work seems meaningless when in the adult world I am tricked into thinking I am serving a house. I must keep in mind that I am not just the maid or a cook! I am serving kings and princesses!

Now it is clear to me why they stare hopelessly blank when I ask them "What did you do to my couch!?" It is because they are dumbfounded as to how I can not see it isn't a couch at all! Can't I see the castle, the forest or the dragon's lair? The words "What have you done to this room?" will never again come from my mouth as now I know there is a more charming order here than the "Container Store" has been trying to sell.

Several weeks ago Tigger asked me how I treated him when he was a baby as he couldn't remember. I was holding Nobby and I kissed her and said to Tigger that I treated all the babies the same way I treated Nobby. He responded, "You mean you treated me like a god?!" This answer made me happy because it showed that my actions do speak loudly, but I hoped that as the children age this treatment didn't somehow diminish as they are able to be more independent. Hopefully they are growing to learn with age comes another wonderful stage in life where we have an opportunity not to be served but to serve. However, this stage comes too quickly and it shouldn't come before they have been filled up with the treasures of memories of how it feels to be served and cared for as though they were royalty. Here in my home, I am a child of God, a daughter of the King! And I am serving serving children of God!