Will the real me please stand up?

In my perfect world (you know, the one I create in my mind when I wish things were different from the way they really are), my husband would come home every day from work for a little while at 10:30 in the morning. Sure it would be fun to see him for a little while in the mid-morning. But my real reason for this wish is for him to see ME mid-morning. Because at 10:30 I am still motivated, happy, cheerful and full of patience and understadning for everyone around me. The reality is that when he walks in the door between 5:30 and 6:00 I am definitely at my worst. The day has run it's course and I am usually the loser in that race. By 5:30 chaos has erupted and I lack the energy and the patience to deal with it. Dinner, children, homework, practicing, soccer, scouts, football, etc, etc, etc. The house that has been clean all day now looks like a train wreck. So most days he walks in and sees a tired, grumpy, frustrated wife who no longer uses that soft tone of voice that she was using at 10:30 in the morning. I wonder if he assumes that this is how I spent the entire day. Sometimes I want to shout out a disclaimer-- I promise I have been a really, really good mother up until the last 15 minutes before you came home. I promise I haven't been yelling at the kids all day and you don't need to worry about their safety. I really did have a great plan for the day and got most of it accomplished. This chaos does not define me nor my day! I do have a fabulous husband. He dives right into the chaos and lends a helping hand where he can. I guess it is something that I have to try harder at. After working all day, the man deserves something pleasant to come home to. But he is also so understanding of the work that I have to do all day, and that a mother's work doesn't end at 5:00. Hooray for families with a father and a mother there to get the job done. Hooray for forgiving children. Hooray for 10:30 in the morning when all is right with the world!