My wife and I moved to a small town. We had three children and lived well. The oldest son was five years old, the middle one was three, and the youngest one was a year and a half.
Today I want to tell you about one incident that fundamentally changed me. Up to a certain point I thought the job of a miner was the hardest. I used to come home and lay down on the couch. And then one day I lay down and my wife hands me my 9-month-old son and says:
– “Frank, take my son. My hands are falling off, he’s so heavy!
– You have no conscience. You’ve been at home all day, and you’re asking me to take care of the kids? I spent the whole day in the mine.
My wife went silently into the kitchen.
Just six months later our relative died in the village, we had to go to the funeral and do all the paperwork. Julia was her only granddaughter, brought her up, so she could not go. We decided that she would go, and I would take a few days off and stay with the kids.
So I stayed with the kids myself. I was kind of happy to have three days off in a row. We lay with the kids in bed until dinner, then ate borscht, which the day before my wife made. After a heavy dinner, I decided to snore for another hour.
Yeah, you wish! The middle son fell asleep, and the rest boycotted me. But in the evening, they quickly fell asleep. But we didn’t have time to go for a walk, and my wife wanted us to … All right.
The morning was not a good one. I fed the grown-ups with sandwiches, and the little one needed milk porridge. Started making it. I poured it “by eye” – it went over the top, and then it burned. Naturally, my son refused to eat this slop. I heated up some milk and handed him a bun. That would do.
We started getting dressed for the walk. The eldest got dressed himself, I helped the middle one a little, but the youngest one was a bit of a handful. As soon as I began to put on pantyhose to the youngest, the middle one asked to go to the bathroom.
– Why didn’t he go earlier?
– I didn’t want to before.
While I was tucking one in, the other one had an emergency. Started changing him.
– I’m all sweaty! – The older son was screaming.
And here we are on the street. Does it have to be a walk every day or once a month? I had hoped this would be our first and last walk like this.
We came from a walk. A mountain of stuff – when to unpack it? Okay, we had to feed the youngest. The older ones were still quiet, that was my trump card. I didn’t want to make porridge any more. I decided to make mashed potatoes. While I was peeling potatoes, the kids were standing around. Yelling, screaming, crying. I fed them. And immediately I thought, what should I cook tonight?
I put the broth on and lay down. And then I woke up to a terrible smell of burning. My future soup had fouled the whole stove. I had to boil it in water. But that’s okay, sometimes it’s good to go on a diet.
After dinner, I looked around the apartment and tried to figure out who made this mess. A hobgoblin? I finally got the kids to bed. I smelled something bad on them – I forgot to buy them. I threw them all into the bathroom, gave them a bath, and changed their clothes. The older one and the middle one went right to sleep.
Then we lost the pacifier. Do you know what it’s like to lose a pacifier before bedtime? I was ready at that moment to give my whole stash for the loss. My son cried nonstop, because he wouldn’t even go to bed without a pacifier.
I ran to the neighbor in my pajamas. And the clock was almost midnight.
– Why are you so late? – She asks.
– Save me! I need a pacifier! My son is crying, he won’t fall asleep without it.
– We only have one. But there is an old one.
– Give me any one, I have no choice.
I come home and all three of them are screaming. They lost my daddy… I washed the pacifier and gave it to my son. Everyone fell asleep. I clutched my head and looked once again at this pigsty.I looked at the sky and whispered:
– God, forgive me. I promise to help my wife, just so she would hurry back.
I should have cleaned up, but I passed out right on the floor. I woke up in the morning and started to clean up a bit. I didn’t even know where to start.
Then the door opens and my Yulah’s here.
– Alive? – She smiled.
I hugged her and did not want to let go. She helped me to clean up and told me that she had even managed to find a buyer for the house. All in all, she had a great trip. I asked her to buy 30 nipples so I would never lose them again.
– Honey, if you had stayed another day longer, I would have been in the nuthouse!
Ever since then, I think mom’s job is the hardest. And a miner… easy!
