By Emily Hoffman
    
     Not long ago my illustrious, talented editor handed me the story sheet for the week. One line exclaimed that the weekend ahead had nothing going on we needed to attend to. Although she covers more than I do, the hope of peace and quiet was a worthy one.
     While snapping photos Tuesday afternoon at the K-3 field day in Wauneta, I turned to a friend of mine and asked if she was surviving the day. She'd been in Wauneta all morning to watch her daughter, and now all afternoon to watch her son.
     "I'm fine," she said. I could see a slight sunburn coloring her cheeks. "But I now understand why women in rest homes sleep all day."
     What mother, with toddlers or school-aged children, can't relate? Who of us with children under the age of 30 doesn't understand the craving desire for 48 continuous hours of sleep once a month with no frantic phone calls, no pleas for money, or requests for lunches or car repairs?
     When we're not attending recitals, school plays, concerts, or scrambling at the last minute for costumes, we're cooking, doing the laundry and cleaning the house. Oh right, and working at a full-time job.
     At age 25 I had three children under the age of three. When Josh finally hit 10 days old I decided I could venture to the grocery store for supplies, alone. I'd manage. I'd been managing since Josh's birth, and knew I could deal with pushing a shopping cart with two children in it while keeping track of Aubry, shopping, AND chatting with all the women who wanted to hold the baby.
     While Josh screamed, Ruth picked canned goods from the cart and dropped them onto the floor as Aubry ate grapes from the produce aisle. Well-meaning gray-haired women would pat me on the shoulders and tell me to enjoy these years, they passed too quickly.
     Enjoy them? At that point all I'd hoped is that they'd pass quickly so I could get eight hours sleep and 10 minutes of waking quiet again. Most of us with school-aged children feel the same way this time of year.
     So all of you retired mothers sleeping 14 hours a day in the rest home, you've earned the time off-enjoy it. And although we, the 30 and 40-something crowd, aren't quite ready to join you, our time will come soon enough.
     When it does we will not say to mothers of toddlers or school-age children to "enjoy the years." No, we will say, "Just wait, honey, the rest home is coming."