Chaos Lives In Everything.

As a father of three very energetic kids, all at different ages, I can’t begin to explain to you how true those words are. Of course, they can be applied to all aspects of life but for now, I’ll focus on life with my kids.

Yes, they are totally amazing and they each have me wrapped around their little finger. To be honest, I was expecting this. I wanted it, even though I didn’t always know I’d want this kind of life.

I lived mostly for myself before I met my wife. Not much of an existence really as it never got too exciting. I’d wake up each morning, get myself together and head to work. I’d come home, put some music on and lay on the floor of my room for about an hour and just space out.

Then I met my future wife and suddenly everything changed. I had something to look forward to. I lived here in Sydney and she lived in Massachusetts. There’s no nice way to say this, being apart sucked. The distance thing was hard. She was at college at the time and I was working. This is really sappy but I ached to be with her.

She visited a couple of times and I visited her as well. Last time she left, I walked out of Kingsford-Smith airport feeling like someone had torn my heart right out of my chest. The next few days were a blur which I still can’t recollect.

As you can see, chaos was right there from the beginning of it all. In fact, she had only let slip that she was interested in being more than friends with me when she was on medication for a flu she was going through at the time. Who says viruses are all bad?

Fast forward a few years and we got married! One of the most awesome days of my life, even though I hardly had anything to eat that day. Oh well, maybe one day, we can go back to the place we had our reception and enjoy the meal we never had that day, sans all the fanfare.

Fast forward a few more years and our first daughter is born. That was the day I became a “kid guy” and more importantly, the day I learned that love could be fierce. I knew I would do anything for my wife, that goes without saying, but meeting my daughter turned me into mush.

Daughter number two came along a few years later and brought with her even more chaos than the first. She was smaller and different and just like the first, she could do no wrong as far as I was concerned. It’s funny how you never realize how big your heart is until you have kids. They are both a source of elation and woe.

Then came child number three. A boy this time. He’s currently teething. If you’ve had kids go through this “milestone” then you’ll know the fun this entails. If you haven’t, enrol in a support group now. You’ll thank me later. For the most part, little bloke has been amazing. His smile lights up the whole room, not to mention our hearts and anyone else’s that might see him. Chaos is never far and seldom friendly.

They are all great kids and I couldn’t love them more if I tried. Having said that, I have never seen a more masterful approach to chaos than when these three young chaos Jedi’s unleash their powers.

Anything from not being able to go anywhere without a travelling cavalcade of stuffed animals, blankets and water bottles, to poopsplosions, to tired temper tantrums, to spraying the surface of an entire room with baby powder. I could go on but you get the idea.

Life is chaos. Some of us manage to organized and compartmentalized our lives. Others, like my wife and I have had the chaos in our lives turned up to eleven with the addition of our three babies. It’s not all bad though, weve had some great laughs along the way and learned many things about ourselves and our kids.

Chaos lives in everything. The trick is in dealing with it. Sometimes you just have to laugh it off. Other times you may have to wait a few years before you can laugh about a circumstance you went trough, and then there’s the times where chaos has its way completely. It’s those times that you have to remember to just put one foot in front of the other so you can get through it.

Would I trade the madness for a slice of what I had before all of the above? I can’t say I haven’t thought about it. I know it’s not possible. But to be honest, after meeting our kids, my wife and I would both have to say no to that idea. You’d have to be a parent to understand that one.

It is chaos and it is beautiful, maddening, frustrating, amazing and at times bewildering. A thread of chaos can be seen in most things we’ve gone through, maybe you can relate to this in some way. I don’t know how interesting  life would be without it. That’s not to say I welcome it all the time, but it does make everything more interesting.