Well worth the risk

Today I felt desperate. I was so tired. I had used every last ounce of patience and I was feeling my muscles tighten together until I think my shoulders were actually touching my ears. I was pretty sure my children were actually gremlins, snickering or baring their teeth at me whenever I asked them to do something. And I was contemplating running away for the weekend, until I remembered it too, was incredibly booked and busy.
It was bath time at the end of a looooong day and all I could think was, "I haven't bathed in two days." Now sometimes I won't wash my hair for a few days, but I literally hadn't had a shower since Tuesday. Yuck. My hair was greasy greasy, stringy and I felt just plain gross. I could have been cast as a survivor after week two.
And so, after I got on the kiddos pajamas, I decided to shower. Normally I have the kids in their room time for this...aka, quarantined, but I knew that would entail screaming that I could not handle at that precise moment. And so in desperation, I put my three year old in charge. I locked the door, told Gavin he was to answer it under no circumstances, asked him to watch Brayden (yes, I told my 3 year old to watch my 1 year old) and got in the hot water.
I heard Brayden rooting around in the bathroom cupboards and ignored it. I heard him close the door and all I could think was, "Well, if they ransack the house, at least I won't know until I get out."
I will admit it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Gavin was working on a puzzle and Brayden had multiple other puzzles out, trying to open them and spread them all over the place. Gavin informed me, "He's helping." Helping who do what, I am not sure, but there was no yelling and a mess that we could easily clean.
Big sigh.
My shoulders had lowered to my mid neck and I think a few ounces of patience had seeped in through the water. My hair was clean, I had shaved the longer than I am proud of, hair off my legs and I actually smelled good. The gremlins were gone and I thought my children were cute again. We finished out the night okay. No mommy melt downs.
I must admit. I did not think giving my two kids rein of the house for even 15 minutes was a good idea. And it probably wasn't. But this case goes to show you...sometimes it is worth the risk.