Home Alone

For years now, Eric and I have been home.

He works here at home. I have been homeschooling for years.

Our house is always full of noisy, happy, busy people. Whether they are our own kids or their friends, we've always had a full house.

 

But now, Adam is gone. And Amy, who has spent the summer here with us, is leaving, too.

Lucy and Jonathan are in school. Their school day goes from 8 am to 5 pm, so they get home just in time for dinner. 

All that to say this: It's quiet around here. Too quiet.

Of course, when the kids get home from school and we're at the dinner table, they are chatty and excited and telling us about their fun days in great detail. Jonathan goes right to his room and starts playing his guitar and Lucy turns up her iTunes and it's noisy and fun and it makes me happy.

But during the day....quiet.

Don't get me wrong. I like quiet. But I don't exactly know what to do with myself. Or how to act. Because, my goodness, it's so quiet around here!

I've gotten into a groove now. I write, I clean out drawers and closets (long, long! overdue), I bake and cook and go to the gym and still have hours left to create and paint and craft and tackle organizing and scrapbooking and telling the stories that go with the bizillions of photographs I've taken of my family and kids over these many years. (<--Big, time-intensive project. But hey....I've got time now. =D)

I do lunch. A lot.

I am getting used to the quiet. (In fact, I kind of like the quiet, but that's not important right now.)

I find I'm liking having days that are my own.

But I miss the noise. The laughter. The silliness.

I miss this...

My Kids from Marta Darby on Vimeo.

I suppose I could always jump up and down on the beds, order large cheese pizzas "just for me," set booby-traps for the stupid bad guys, and watch movies all day while eating junk food.  (<-- Yes, that's a nod to the silly Home Alone movies by John Hughes.)

Or I could just embrace the fact that they are all doing so well and give myself a break.

And maybe do lunch? ;-)