The giant hamster wheel of life

Epiphanies can come at any moment.  Mine came today on a trip to buy dog food at Petsmart.  As usual, it took me twenty minutes to do what most people do in twenty seconds.  My problem is that I want a quality product but am too cheap to spend $20 on four pounds of dog food, so I end up waffling back and forth, putting bags of dog food in my cart only to put it back three minutes later and grab another one.  Not that this is even remotely interesting.  It was even less interesting to Matěj's 18 month-old attention span, which he made clear with increasingly louder protests.  As I usually do, I took him over to the bird/small rodent section for some entertainment.  Normally the rodents are so fast asleep that I worry if they are alive at all, but today there were several using the hamster wheel in the mouse cage.  Well, specifically, two mice were using the hamster wheel in its proper manner while another clung on for dear life as it was being spun around and around at breakneck speed.  The problem this mouse faced was that there was no other option but to dig its tiny little claws in and hope for the best.  No option for exit, lest it be hurled unceremoniously into the air, no time for philosophizing on the meaning of life, only time to concentrate on hanging on for dear life.  And that's when it hit me.  That is me.  I am that mouse, gripping the spokes of the giant hamster wheel of life, being propelled by forces beyond my control (my children).  Each day a lesson in survival, no time for pontificating (not that anyone within earshot would care), being flung through life on sheer perpetual motion.  Life with kids never stops.  Your job is never done.  You move from one challenge to the next; there are no vacations, weekends, holidays from parenting.  It is a constant state of vigilance, worrying, and yes, a lot of the time, stress.  But, then I thought to myself, carnival rides aren't so different from that hamster wheel.  Being spun around can also be fun, if you allow yourself to release and enjoy the ride.  Yes, your job as a parent is never done, but this also means you're constantly growing, constantly evolving, constantly working on becoming a better person, even if sometimes you fall short.  Yes, you do move from one challenge to the next, but you also move from one joy to the next.  Your every vacation, weekend, holiday enhanced by seeing life's joys as if for the first time again, through your child's eyes.  As for the constant state of vigilance, worrying and stress, well, that's par for the course.  When you love someone as much as you love a child, you should expect nothing less, but it makes those moments of joys all the more sweet. 

Now, if someone could please remind me of this noble, enlightened state of mind tomorrow when I'm cleaning food dumped all over the floor for the umpteenth time while watching my other child draw on the tile with permanent marker....