One of these days you'll shout "why don't you kids grow up and act your age!" And they will. Or, you will shout "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do…and don't slam the door!" and they won't.

You'll straighten up the boys bedroom neat and tidy..bumber stickers all discarded…toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closets. Animals caged. And you'll say out loud, "Now I want it to stay this way." And it will.

You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger tracings in the icing and you'll say, "Now there's a meal for company." And you will eat it alone.

You'll say, "I want some privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No pantomimes. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?" and you will have it.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti. No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms. No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement stairs. No more clothes pins under the sofa. No more playpens to arrange a room around.

No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent. No more sand on the sheets. No more iron-on patches, wet knotted shoe strings, tight boots, or rubber bands for pony tails.

Imagine! A lipstick with a point on it. No babysitter for New Years Eve. Washing only once a week. See a steak that isn't ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap. No PTA meetings. No car pools. No blaring radios. No washing her hair at 11 o'clock at night. Having your own roll of scotch tape.

Think about it. No more Christmas Presents out of toothpicks and paste. No more sloppy oatmeal kisses. No more tooth fairy. No giggles in the dark. No knees to heal, no responsibility.