‘Twas the night of the pandemic when all through the house
not a child was stirring, not even my spouse.
The laundry was hung on the banister with care,
in hopes, a Fairy Godmother would take it upstairs.
The children were mesmerized behind computers a glow
while UV light danced of Minecraft and CSGO.
And I in my sweatpants had started to fix
a large bowl of popcorn while watching Netflix.
When upstairs I heard a rather loud groan
followed by screams and an uproarious moan.
The pounding of fists on the desks in their rooms
I knew in an instant we were headed for gloom.
I ran to the stairs to see what the fuss was about.
When a panicked voice hollered, “The WiFi went out!”
“Seriously”, I thought, “is this a bad joke?
20 weeks of this shit now our WiFi is broke?”
The frowns on their faces and look in their eyes
spoke of their misery, there was no disguise.
“What will we do? How long will this last?”
Were just two of the questions my desperate boys asked.
Then panic showed up with a grin on its face
as we thought, “What the hell can we do in this place?”
Slowly emerging from their bedrooms they came
So I took a deep breath and called each by name
“Hey Jacob, and Noah, and Zachary and Scott,
let’s play a game,” I foolishly thought.
“A puzzle?” I asked while holding my breath.
An eye roll returned meant they’d much prefer death.
“Let’s go for a walk to get some fresh air.”
The silence matched only a slew of blank stares.
“Well, there’s dishes and laundry and chores to be done.
You should lose your outlook or join in that fun.”
Then to my surprise, new sounds filled the air
Tinkling of ivories and trumpets that blare.
Voices discussing the news of the day
Spotify playlists filling hallways.
Wrestling ensued with a jovial tone
rolling around, each boy holding their own.
Then the dog started barking, she wanted to play,
so out came a ball that was a little bit frayed.
“Let’s bake some cookies!” one of them thought
so the kitchen was littered with items they bought.
The chatter was endless, the noise level high
But it bothered me not, ‘cause these were my guys.
I stood back and watched while wearing a grin.
Dare I say merriment snuck itself in.
Off their computers, they found something to do
a day with no WiFi was manageable too.
In fact, it was better, in a small little dose
Cause you can all live together, but not be at all close.
So on days we are drifting and I just want to pout,
we might find abruptly the WiFi back out.
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