The monkey loves water. Showers help him with his anxiety. He can shower ten times a day if we let him. But with the warm weather, he also gets to swim a lot too. We see a big difference when he swims. He is just happier.

Today while he was swimming it started to rain. I got him out of the pool and he went straight to my bathroom. I was still working so I laid on my bed to work while he showered. I could hear him humming and singing, and those sounds just warm my heart.

After a while he started to laugh. Then I could hear splashing. Splashing? He is not in the tub. I run over to the shower and there’s water everywhere. I don’t know how he did it but he removed the top portion of the shower drain and stuffed all kinds of things down. There was water everywhere. I was too busy sending emails and looking at reports that I didn’t notice what this kid was up to. I turn off the shower and try to clean up. There is so much water that it seemed like forever. It started running down the hall onto my closets and my room.

My husband came home and started helping me. He went to get the wet vacuum and started using it to pull out the things from inside the pipe. During the entire process the monkey is kissing us and trying to hug us to forgive him. I keep telling him that what he did was wrong and now look at his dad trying to fix it. I don’t know if he understands the concept of it all but he did know he was in trouble.

He had thrown toothbrushes, and rocks, and toothpaste, and anything he could find. My husband was able to get some of the items out, enough to see the water starting to drain. He is now at the hardware store looking for another shower drain.

But during this craziness, my husband starts to laugh. He remembers when he did some pretty terrible things when he was a boy. His dad always cleaning up after him. My father in law would always tell him that it will come back to haunt him when he had his own kids. And now look at him. Cleaning up after his son!

My father in law passed away about fifteen years ago. He never knew the monkey, or even the thought of him. But he was an amazing grandpa. He loved my daughter so much. When we would go over to visit, she would always run towards his arms. He would say she was the light of his life. He was so poetic when he talked to us. He would always tell me that the moon and the stars don’t compare to my beauty.

We know he would have loved my son. Unconditionally. And if he was alive, he would be by my husband side, helping him clean up after the Monkey, and laughing at it all.

As my husband is leaving, he tells me, “I would much rather be cleaning up this clogged up drain than to have our son in the hospital.”

It is all about our perspectives.