I draw the line at paint

I

’m pretty easygoing when it comes to art projects, as long as they’re the kind that can be cleaned up with a broom in under a minute. Think: crayons, papers, and scissors. I hate dealing with gobs of glue, missing marker caps, and stickers stuck to every surface of my house. But those are still tolerable.

I draw the line at paint.

Preschool morahs can deal with paint all they like. I’m a mother of three children who I bet could outdo a morah’s 25 students in 30 seconds. You can come to my house and see.

So why, why, did I decide last week would be a great time to paint?

I was feeling a little tired and asked my husband for some extra adult support. It wasn’t with much hope on my end. His afternoons are usually spent answering the barrage of work messages that come in during the mornings while he’s in kollel. Between the emails and scattered meetings, he has little room for random days off.

But for some reason, he acquiesced.

I was delighted. What to do with this precious gift of another set of hands? Thoughts of a nap crossed my mind, but that wouldn’t be fair, right?

“A family painting activity,” I blurted.

As soon as the words left my mouth, my heart sank. Mindel, are you crazy?

Oh, c’mon, it can’t go that badly, I reassured myself.