Are You Ready?
Author: InsolentScrawl
Title: Are You Ready?
Rating: Anyone
Prompt: Myths
Are You Ready?
“Are you sure you’re ready to adopt this kid?” Beth’s brother Eric asked. “I guess I’m asking if you are ready to be a parent.”
Sitting on the couch, Beth closed her eyes and vividly recreated a local park in her mind. Bright red, green, and yellow playground equipment gleamed in the summer sun as six year old Jake went flying down the tubular slide. His giggles and waves accompanied him, as he began scurrying up the plastic, rather than taking the stairs. He wanted to go again, and was too impatient to ascend the normal way.
When Jake had waved to her, Beth’s heart had melted.
Opening her eyes, she grinned in giddy delight and said, “Oh yes. I’m ready. Between the classes and the books, I know what I’m doing.”
XXX
For months, Beth hadn’t really slept. Sitting in her bed on the verge of tears, she looked at her husband and let the drops begin to flow over her cheeks.
“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” she said.
Bob shifted over and pulled his wife into a hug, just as Jake slammed into their door once more. His screaming tantrums controlled their lives, and Beth sobbed even harder. Everything around her felt dull, and her limbs ached with fatigue. They’d tried everything. Time-out turned into a tantrum, bedtime turned into a tantrum, and just denying Jake whatever pleasure he wanted had turned into a tantrum.
On the one hand, they’d expected some of it once the ‘honeymoon period’ ended. They just hadn’t expected this absolute defiance.
When the phone rang, Beth reached over and picked up the receiver.
“Hey sis,” Eric greeted, just as Jake slammed into the door once more, this time producing in a loud cracking noise that reverberated throughout the master bedroom.
“Hey bro,” Beth muttered as a scream echoed in from the hall once more.
“What the hell was that,” Eric asked.
Beth paused, trying to find the words to explain. Finally, she whispered, “Do you remember when you asked if I was ready for this?”
“Sure,” he replied.
“It turns out I was wrong,” she answered, her voice choking thickly with emotion.
The sigh on the other end surprised her. Eric had adopted his three about the same time as she’d adopted Jake. When he finally spoke, his words gave her hope.
“Yeah, well, it turns out it isn’t nearly as easy as we thought, either,” he muttered. The muffled, “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed young man?” from Eric's end of the line made Beth grin. When a crying tantrum seeped through the phone, her grin turned into a gentle smile.
“Hey Eric? It’s good to know I’m not in this alone,” Beth said, feeling hopeful for the first time in quite awhile.
“Me, too,” he replied.
Beth went to sleep laughing, even with her son attempting to break down their bedroom door because he didn’t want to go to bed. The last thing Eric said before hanging up had given her back her sense of sanity.
“You know what, Beth? We were both wrong. It’s not possible to be ‘ready’ for parenthood. Everything they taught us in class is important, but I gotta say… there’s nothing like the reality of a kid throwing a tantrum in the grocery store to make you realize you haven’t got a freaking clue what the hell you’re doing.”
“Amen to that, brother,” Beth replied, snuggling closer to her husband.
“Amen to that.”