At the Top of the Stairs

I try to be efficient when I clean and straighten the house.  I do not run willy nilly from room to room or up and down the stairs again and again returning things to their proper place.  This approach, which works very well, often leaves me with a small pile at the top of the stairs.  Usually, I try to grab a handful of items when I'm headed up or down.  But today just as I was about to finish with my piles, I realized I had misjudged my time and needed to shower quickly before the school bus arrived, my kindergartener flew in the door, we scooped up the little one and ran out the door to do a few errands.  So consequently that pile at the top of the stairs was forgotten.

Forgotten when the unattended 3 year old watched Dora while I showered.

Forgotten when we left the house.

Forgotten when we returned, arms loaded with bags of groceries and piles of papers from the school bags.

Forgotten when we settled in for an afternoon of Legos and dress up play.

Forgotten when the big sister returned from school and we zipped around to get ready for dancing school.

Forgotten numerous times today as we all ran right by.

Tonight when I looked again at the top of the stairs and saw the pile I was not frustrated by the fact that my family ignored the pile and chose not to help me return items to their proper place.  Tonight I was not feeling like the unappreciated servant that seems to be the only one who actually sees the piles.

Tonight, I realized how lucky I am to have 3 young children who will ignore a pile like that 20 times in a day as they run past.  I was grateful for my safe walls, my un-punctured furniture and the lack of broken bones, of any kind, in my house on this lovely Fall evening.

 *Pictured, just as they sit, in their pile at the top of the stairs; a 5 pound rubber coated steel mallet, one screw driver and a paper bag full of packing peanuts.