My friend Adam is fond of saying that the perfect metaphor for stay-at-home parenting is a perfectly-brewed cup of coffee, sweetened and with the perfect amount of cream...left cold and untouched on the counter. Not even a sip taken from it. When he mentions this, we usually end up adding to it: thrice-reheated, oily skin on top, found the next morning in the microwave, then spilled all over the floor when you trip over a wooden train on your way to dump the coffee down the drain.
Today is just such a day. Where did I put that cup? Why do I bother carrying it around the house when I know it'll be 3pm before I actually get to drink any of it?
Earlier this week I found myself standing in front of a shelf full of tortilla chips in the local organic market. If I had gone to the regular grocery store, I would have been on auto-pilot and grabbed the usual bag from the usual brand. This choice, however, required a modicum of thought: scan shelf, identify corn chips, determine which are most likely to taste like cardboard, select one of the remaining brands. Unfortunately for me, however, I was accompanied by three children, and could not get past "here is a large selection of chips" due to constant interruptions of my train of thought. What should have taken ten seconds took more than sixty. And that is my metaphor for stay-at-home parenting: the complete and utter inability to proceed beyond "look, chips".
Ironically, distraction was the most focused concept yet for me and for Griffin. We both had immediate concepts in mind and we both attacked them with laser focus. I was moved to try something completely new. Griffin chose photography to express his idea, and served as artistic director for a mini-shoot - he expressed his vision, discussed how to stage the shot, and advised me on editing color, lighting, and cropping.
My girl Jen is filling up the comments with her awesome words. Shall we let her have a monopoly, or would you like to toss your own contributions into the hat?