the price

Dear President-Elect Obama,

Now that the election is over, I’m calculating the cost, cleaning up the debris, and trying to get back to my regular life. Here’s a snapshot of the price of the election, from my family’s perspective:

*missed soccer games–8

*missed trash nights–1 (the night before the election, when I was–of course–working, and landisdad was worn out from weeks of single parenting)

*additional grey hairs, seemingly grown overnight by me–1,001

*temper tantrums, thrown by my kids–eleventy billion

*temper tantrums, thrown by me–2

*temper tantrums, thrown by landisdad–miraculously, none

*number of times the Potato has called me, “Dad, I mean Mommy”–5, regrettably, this seems to be continuing in the post-election moment, it’s now up to 7

*layers of crud, covering every surface in our house–16

*fender benders, engaged in by a too-tired-to-be-driving landismom–1

*loads of laundry that never got folded, but just went straight from the hamper to the body, then back to the hamper–32

*missed bedtimes, including stories & kisses–43

*number of dirty dishes that are stacked in the sink even now–27

*number of consecutive days the Potato went without a bath in the month of October–6

*missed elementary school Awards Assemblies–1

*Watching your victory speech–priceless

I know that you have to govern the whole country, and not just the people who voted for/worked for you. Still, there are a couple of things that I expect to get in exchange for my family’s sacrifices. In no particular order, they include real health care reform that guarantees health care coverage for every man, woman and child in this country (I know that you can take the heat on the cries of ‘socialist’ that will be coming your way); an end to the war in Iraq; a restored confidence in our country from allies abroad; and a revived economy. Not expecting it all in the first 100 days, but seeing some real progress by then would be nice.

Congratulations on your victory–now get to work!

Your friend,

Landismom

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