Responsibility

“Don’t me mad, and don’t freak out okay?”

That’s not necessarily what I wanted to hear right now. “Okay, what is it?”

“The weather from the storms is too bad for our flight to take off… we’re going to be stuck in Chicago at least another two days… I’m so sorry J, but can you watch over your little sisters ‘til we get back?”

“Yeah, of course! Good luck with your flight, keep in touch. We’ll be fine.” I answered before I even thought about it, as if I had that response on autopilot. As I hung up the phone, I actually started to think about the situation I was in. I had a midterm paper due in 6 hours that I hadn’t started. I was supposed to be at work in the morning. I had no idea how to cook dinner for seven year old girls.

I went to find the twins to tell them the news.

“Girls, Mom and Dad won’t be home for a couple days, I’m going to be in charge until they get back. Okay? Sounds fun, right?”

Not fun. The first thing they did was run around throwing everything they possibly could around the house. Toys, DVDs, food. I was barely fast enough following them around picking up everything they dropped. And then, I just sort of lost it.

“THAT IS IT! Jess, Tess, you two are officially in time out! Get to your room!”

“You’re not the boss of us!” Tess yelled in her little voice.

“Oooohhh yes I am!” I grabbed to key to their room, forced them in, and locked it. I felt guilty already, but had to get down to business.

Asking my teacher for an extension on my midterm, check. Getting my shift covered at work, check. Reading the directions on the box of mac and cheese, check.

Feeling better, I went into the twins rooms. They were playing with plastic horses, and determined to ignore me.

“Girls… I’m sorry. I just got a little stressed for a minute.. want me to make dinner?”

They looked at each other, smiled, and ran at me simultaneously. Before I knew it, I was in the middle of a twin tickle sandwich, barely able to speak due to laughing too hard.

“TESS… JESS… hhhaaaa ahh! Okay, okay! Let’s watch a video and have dinner!”

The rest of the night they weren’t necessarily perfect angels, but what they definitely were was fun. I hadn’t had quality time like this with my sisters in too long, and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I’m not saying the next two days would be easy, but they wouldn’t be a punishment from the world, just a chance for me to grow. And I can to the conclusion that sometimes an unexpected responsibility is just life’s way of forcing you to see things in a different way.