Put on Your Yellow Rubber Gloves, the Dirty Girls are Back

I had a request for another post about the Dirty Girls in my life who serve as a constant source of writing inspiration.  

I am a very hands-on Mom.  I like to march in parades wearing a traffic cone on my head.  I teach the children to share the sprinkler with mommy.   I excel at hide and go seek: you only have to count to ten.  

I am not a hawk-circling-my-children kind of mom.   I am a bit looser than that.  Well, way looser, like those gray sweat pants you wear all the time but wouldn't be caught dead in publicly.   My parenting style is to let kids be kids.   As such, it probably goes as no surprise things frequently get messy at my house. 

Image: DartVader via sxc.hu

My friend dropped by with a present the other day.  Let me rephrase- my neat friend popped in unannounced the other day.  My friend who has a loving, committed relationship with her vacuum cleaner.   My yellow-gloves-to-do-the-dishes friend.  

As I accepted the lovely present, I had to force a smile because I kept thinking "please, don't look over my shoulder at the leaning tower of dirty dishes...I was going to put them in the dishwasher, but I still haven't emptied it because we were outside having lunch...then we had to make a special oven for mudpies, and I lost track of time..."

I saw her look behind me.  No!!  I turned to see she was looking at the girls - or what may have been the girls, but the evidence was inconclusive.  Two beings covered with a layer of chocolate on cheeks, a slathering of mud on hands, and maybe just a touch of glitter in their hair.  I smiled.  I made no apologies!  I didn't even try to wipe them off.  They are beautiful, amazing girls.  Even sweeter when coated in chocolate.