Is this the part where he tests my patience?

A few years ago, a co-worker greeted me and asked me how Mark was.

"He's lucky to be alive," I answered. "Just barely."

My co-worker, also a mom, nodded understandingly.

"You can't kill him," she answered, wisely. "It took you too long to get him."

I agreed she had a point. It had taken me two years to get him; no matter how sorely tempted I was, I couldn't strangle him after only a few months.

Well, now it's been almost four years. And if we're being honest here, I will admit it. Although I made things sound all sweet and rosy in a recent blog entry, really, I was just trying to convince myself a) that I love my kid and b) not to kill my kid.

I really do love my kid, but he came closer this week than he ever has to dying by the hand of his enraged mommy. Narrowly (very VERY narrowly), he escaped death.

He came out of the experience much humbler than he went into it, all full of teary "I love yous" and "I know you love me, too, even when you're really, really, REALLY mad." (That last part was debatable.)

We got through it all, and today, two days later, I am almost sane once again. But the worst part was that today was a school holiday.

That's right, as in a whole day off with the kid. To make matters worse, it was not a work holiday, so I had to work at home. I got to spend the whole day trapped at home with a kid I'm mad at.

Fun times, this being a parent. But today I made it work. Or rather, I made him work. He cleaned the kitchen, his room and the litter boxes; watered the plants, inside and out; put away laundry; and finished all other various tasks I assigned him. He also did some online research, on great white sharks and on high blood sugars and what happens if you don't control them. (The blood sugars, that is; I've yet to meet a person who could control a great white shark!)

But the point is, I survived. Thanks to my ever-present village (the one helping to raise my son), Mark is still alive. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's thriving, but sometimes life in itself is a major achievement.

Sigh...I will be back to funny Mark stories soon enough. If he lives...