If only I knew sign language. Parenting without a voice is a whole new level of pointless as I gesture dramatically at the kids and hope they magically get what I mean. They stare back in a mixture of bemusement and puzzlement and simply ask me to repeat myself.

The voice is something I have clearly taken for granted. Try yelling with no voice – it comes out as a hoarse, pitiful whisper. Don’t ask me how I know that. Needless to say, it doesn’t have quite the intended effect.

It’s funny how your world shrinks when in survival mode. The only things on my mind right now are getting through this day, eating something so I don’t feel like spewing, and stopping the kids from killing each other. I have no concept about what is going on in the world, even the constant feed of the US Presidential Election seems strangely far away.

The minutes continue to tick slowly by, and we are getting closer to the end of the day. Mum coming over this morning and ordering me back to bed for a bit certainly helped speed the process along. Right now Hudson is joining together the bar stools with sticky tape and Eli has tattooed his entire body with textas to look like a ninja turtle. Hey, whatever works -right?

In the meantime, I’m conceiving odes to my voice, apologising for ever thinking it an optional extra, promising to take care of it forever if it will just make a small reappearance to get me to that magical moment when Dave steps through the door. I’ll let you know if my clearly foolproof process works.

This post is part of the #Write31Days challenge that I’m participating in along with a talented community of other writers. We free write for five minutes (or more) guided by a prompt. Today’s prompt is ‘sign’. 

For more information on 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes, check out Christina Hubbard’s site!