I'm being Upstaged.

(photo by Tabitha Bird. 

Cyrus, 3yrs old)

There is room for exactly one Drama Queen in my house. One writer. One cupcake lover. One person most likely to down a glass of wine in the evening and say, "Whatever."

And then we had him.

I write.

He climbs onto the top bunk and draws on the ceiling. With black pen. Permanent black pen.

I eat my cupcakes.

He throws them.

At my dog. MY dog!

I down my glass of wine in the evening and say, "Whatever."

He downs his toy cars and screams, "Mooooommmmmmyyy! There's a hole in my belly!"

I drop my wine and run to his side. "A hole?"

What kind of a mother am I to have missed a hole in his belly?

"Look! There!" He points at his round little tummy sticking out over the top of his shorts. His tears are already spilling their fat drops all over him.

Then I see where he's pointing.

I bite my lip to stop the laughing and rock him on my lap to assure the poor child that he isn't dying. When I am sure I can talk without releasing the building laughter I say, "It's okay, baby.  Everyone has a belly button."

Yeah. I am being upstaged.

And I like it. I like it a lot.

As I put him to bed I think, perhaps every writer should be upstaged by life and those who live it with them. If only to be reminded that words are not created from a vacuum, in an absence real of living. To all drama queens out there. LIVE it! And let yourself be upstaged. Occasionally.

~

What about you? Been upstaged lately?