Gut Genug

I keep hearing gut genug (good enough in German) in my head this week.  I always liked this saying. I like that there are three hard g sounds in two words and that when you say it, it sounds final.  Like there are no questions to be asked once it is said.  Of course, that applies to a lot of things said in German, even the pleasantries.  Germans are generally not a people to leave things at good enough so the fact that they have a saying for it makes me feel like sometimes gut genug really is gut genug.

Bill has been on the road for the past eleven days and it will probably be four more until he is actually home. This is not new to us, he has travelled a lot in the past, but it has been a long time since he was gone this long.  There was one time he was sent to NC with a one way ticket and I lost my mind and put my two year old and baby in a car and drove to Chicago to stay with my sister.  So, it could be worse but this is also the first time he has been gone more than a few nights since I started working full time.  

I am a little weary.  Single parents and military husbands and wives, you people are heroes.  I get worn out being the only adult in the house, the only one thinking that things should not be this dirty or chaotic or that there should be food other than Cheese-Nips in the pantry.  I have shuttled kids back and forth and back again until I dread getting in the car.  Of course everyone had a million appointments or field trips or things to do these past 11 days.  Naturally we would be busiest when down to one driver.  

I was feeling overwhelmed and sorry for myself until I started hearing gut genug and gut genug gave me a whole new mind set.  It tells me that things aren't the same when Dad is away, so stop killing yourself trying to keep it up.  House is dirty?  Is it so dirty that someone will get sick?  No?  Run a vacuum around, clean the counters and declare it GUT GENUG!  I did wash the kitchen floor at 9pm the other night but only because I was tired of sticking to it.  I really weighed the pros of cleaning it - no longer sticking - to the cons - didn't want to- and the pros won out.  So in this case, slightly better than gut genug.

I find that gut genug really applies to eating.  The boy is a TERRIBLE breakfast eater on school days. I have to stand over him and say "Eat.  Eat.  For the love of God, EAT."  I took this 15 minutes of horror away by deciding that bars can be breakfast. Not only can they be breakfast, they are a great breakfast!  No plate, no mess and best of all, I can press it in his hand on his way out the door and he can eat it on the bus.  

it's a breakfast gut genug!

Plus, now I know he is eating at least 200 good calories and not the 7 he got from his three bites of waffle.  Dinner?  Dinner can be sandwiches!  Throw some veggies on the side and feel like a good mom.  You know what else can be dinner?  Food someone else makes and you drive through and purchase!  This is brilliant!  M started texting me repeatedly the other day to stop and get Torchy's, stop and get Torchy's. I told her no the first three times and then stopped to think why was I telling her no.  Why not stop and get food and not spend the next hour cleaning up the kitchen, cooking and then cleaning it again?  So I did.  And we sat and ate and laughed. A lot actually.  She regaled us with music that I am sure the boy will end up in trouble for at school, but it was in the moment.  She was sharing!  Gut genug wins again!!!

Finally, gut genug applies to laundry.  I refuse to buy the boy more long pants because he will not need them in three more weeks and he is growing like a weed.  Normally, I try to get a load of laundry done midweek so he has clean pants.  This time I looked the other way as he wore the same pants a few times.  Clean underwear?  Yep.  Gut genug.

I really feel that gut genug has kept me from crawling into the fetal position and weeping while chewing my fingernails off.  I find that weekends are very hard to fill the time without Dad.  Today I went to kettlebell while the kids ate carbs and watched cartoons.  Everyone was happy.  Later we are going to see the Lego movie.  Two hours of not answering to "Mom?"  "Mom?!?!"  "MOM!!!!" will be great.  Plus, it is a late afternoon show and I plan on buying the large popcorn in the hopes it will fill them and no one will ask what is for dinner.  GUT GENUG!!