There is a plan in my head that I believe, if followed, will bring joy and continuity to my home forever and always.  It is a mom type plan where we can see it, prove it and know it will work, but the success in sharing the vision to fruition is falling short.  Way short.  For the most part I accept my defeats.  I am one parent with four children.  I am pretty sure my kids have figured out the simple equation that I am outnumbered in the adult to children ratio.  So the saying: “pick your battles”, are valued words to live by.  This week I chose the war on towels; or better worded – it chose me!!

It takes a while for most moms to intermittently lose their composure.  I would think we are wired in much the same way.  Our hearts in the right place, our brains are intricate and high functioning, our feelings have great depth, and structure is a tool that keeps all the moving parts functioning in a forward direction.  We can maneuver around obstacles that come into our way and we are willing to push through the difficulties, we even rephrase, or change our engagement as needed to create the best possible results.  We are pretty dang amazing – a constant ally working side by side our children so they can prosper into beautiful adults.  So come on kids, walk with us, save yourselves the grief and misery that will come once all motherly attempts at structure fail and we just plain lose our head on you…..when I say “we” I am referring to ME and when I mention “you” I am talking about Corbin.

I have breezed through the towel topic before.  The age appropriate annoyance is that all towels find their way to the floor of my kid’s bedroom.  I want to be as fabulous a mom as I can be without crossing over the line from parent to friend –  I like to believe I am a positive force with some measure of grace but I am not winning this towel issue no matter the approach.  Casey has been telling me for quite awhile that Corbin is the culprit but I don’t want to encourage snitching between siblings, their relationship with each other is more important than creating rifts between them.  I admit I have made a few concessions to that general rule as the kids are getting older, sometimes snitching is very welcomed.  Money has been offered for a name to an offense but only once and no one came forward.  Their code of honor is admirable….or their greed is going to cost me a higher compensation to coerce them into busting each other.  Currently there is nothing pressing enough that I need to go to the financial extreme.  Mark my words, I will if I have too!

Saturday was the breaking point and I lost it, so much so I didn’t even recognize the pitch that was coming from my mouth.  It definitely demanded their attention and within seconds a towel was delivered to the bathroom counter.  Sadly it was not a clean towel to dry off with however at the moment the options were a wash cloth, several Kleenex or a towel from the heap on their bedroom floor!  For the sake of keeping our house somewhat orderly with three stinky teenagers, I have contained showering to one bathroom.  It resembles a Walgreens that went through a mild earth quake with a wide range of cosmetics, brushes,  hair products to make our hair curly and products to make it straight, Stridex pads, nail polish, toothpaste, deodorants, razors, aftershave, perfume and oh so much more strewn on the counter.  There are four towel hooks, one for each of us and clean towels are folded neatly under the counter which leads me to the satanic outburst!  How do I end up without a towel?!

Let me tell you –Corbin does indeed steal a new towel EVERYTIME he showers and since he has already left his on the floor from prior showers, he just shamelessly moves along to everyone else’s (so gross).  By Saturday Casey, Jackie and I had all been shorted but “Mr. Clean” had happily pranced through the house with every towel over the span of a week, leaving the rest of us dripping wet and none too happy.  Where were all the towels?  Well, in a towel mountain right next to his bed, of course!!   It is a hard argument for him to dispute at this point though luckily, when it all came down he was not home, which quickly shifts to unfortunate, because the only thing worse than a furious mom, is a mom that has had time to contemplate the outcome.   The new terms in the quest for cleanliness included coupons to Bed, Bath and Beyond so he could personally purchase his own towels that would be his and only his in any color that suits him.  He also got to launder all the towels in addition to my mostly incoherent rant because when I get upset I lose my ability to articulate words.  It didn’t help to have his other three siblings behind me during the heated discussion answering the questions I was throwing out to him, finishing my sentences and I am pretty sure making faces and hand gestures all the while.  It’s pretty easy to conclude I am still losing the battle but I am confident I have gained some ground.  That’s what I am going to keep telling myself.