Toddler Dad

published 2025-09-17 | tags: #creative-writing

Mike never considered himself an especially clean guy. He wasn't messy, but he certainly wasn't a neat freak. But when Mike had two kids, a toddler and a newborn, he found that his shoulders would tense and his breathing would shorten when the house was just a little too cluttered.

Now even with a supportive spouse/co-parent two little kids is no walk in the park -- and walks in the park are harrowing if you forget snacks. So Mike was used to staying in motion most hours of the day, from getting up at 6am to chasing the toddler at the park and rocking baby to nap until finally putting them to bed at 8pm.

But even with a quiet house (ignoring the noise machine that had probably outlived it's usefulness) Mike couldn't relax because just enough was out of place that he couldn't quiet his mind. So before kicking back and cracking open a cold seltzer water he did a cleaning pass at each room, picking things up off the floor, hanging up coats, sorting shoes, and either washing or putting away dishes.

Although Mike hadn't taken a dance class since he was in middle school, when he thought it would get him closer to a girl, he would glide from room to room waltzing left and right, round and round. He would reach a sort of state between calm flow, checking things off his list, and terminator targeting and eliminating enemies if his psyche.

This was how he ended most days; picking things up until he felt at ease. Maybe just the act of picking things up was good enough, maybe it didn't even matter how clean things got, just that he had left things better than he found it. After a day of work and family time, sometimes Mike just needed 10 or 20 minutes to himself and that was all it took to fill his cup.

The end.