It is often said that being a parent is the toughest job you'll ever love. Parenthood challenges you in ways nothing else can and, for me, it came at a time when I needed direction and purpose in my life. It may have even saved my life. Almost everyone I've ever encountered has made some comment about how I was meant to be a father. I adore and have always gotten along well with kids (I like to think it's because we're on about the same maturity level). I can honestly say the birth of my first niece changed my life. Love at first sight. It was like I'd known this little being in another life and I'm thankful that we still share that connection. When she was a baby and I was a 20-year-old single dude my mom's friends would express concern about me taking her out on my own, as if I couldn't handle it. But taking care of kids has always come very naturally to me.
Babysit one kid? No problem. Two kids at once? Pssh, please. At least give me a challenge. Seven kids at once for half a day and the entire night? Well, what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger. In total there turned out to be nine kids; two in charge (both age 29), three who needed to be creatively entertained (ages 11, 8 and 8), three who needed constant supervision (ages 3, 2 and almost 1) and one who slept through most of the insanity (age 6 months and my favorite on this day). It seemed like a tall task but I had a plan to keep them all entertained simultaneously - build a fort. (People just don't do simple, fun stuff like that anymore.) But not just any old fort. This one was to be a recreation of the epic fort I built last Christmas that had two stories, its own lighting and a television (woulda had a mini-fridge too but the cord wouldn't reach the outlet). But you know what they say; men plan and God laughs.
I had every pillow, blanket and couch cushion I could find and construction began. We finished about two hours later and were about to begin rigging the lights when three toddlers come tearing out of the kitchen. One trips, they all fall like dominoes and land directly on the one piece holding the entire structure together. The whole thing came tumbling down right before my eyes. You woulda thought someone had just run over my puppy, I was majorly bummed. There went my foolproof plan for entertainment.
Instead of one big awesome thing to entertain them all, it turned into a patchwork kinda day involving some new school (thank you Nintendo Wii), some old school (an American Gladiators-type obstacle course built in the ruins of the fort) and some Halloween candy (cuz it'd be a shame if we sent them back to their parents without a weeks worth of sugar coursing through their veins). Add to that a vicious game of floor hockey in our p.j's and 'Back to the Future' Parts I & II and it adds up to nine exhausted kids passing out in the world's biggest bed (now the ruins of the obstacle course). I have to say I had an absolute blast but I am so exhausted and have no clue how people wrangle seven kids at once on a daily basis. Sure am glad my fort came crashing down though.
