It's Spring Break. There's no such thing as routine anymore.
My drums will gather dust. Lately I've been stealing a few minutes from each morning to bang around on them before leaving for work - just one song a day from my "new to me" Mp3 player, still loaded with my daughter's playlist. Right now I'm rocking with Blink 182 ... fun and fast! But I'm considerate enough to know that, while my "drumming" (and I use that word lightly) might be a great way for me to start my morning, it might simultaneously ruin the whole day for others in the house that have to listen to it.
Daughter is working with me; earlier this semester there was talk of a trip to Costa Rica, but financial reality seeped in at some point between then and now, so this week the car radio is tuned to her station and all the way to work yesterday I was peppered with religious questions, for example, do Catholics celebrate Passover, why or why not?
By the time we got to work I was exhausted! For one thing, I'm not used to that much talking - in the course of a day I usually just see the same three people and conversation is minimal. We're all focused on our own work. My brain and my voice aren't used to this kind of work-out!
But I enjoy having her around to spice things up and make my brain think in new directions, even if it tires me out.
When we got home, Tom was cooking hamburgers and Daniel was sitting on the couch reading one of his history books. I enjoy the house when it's just me and Tom, but there's a nice, filled-out feeling when the kids are home...and I still enjoy it even when the bantering, chasing, throwing of random objects and smacking each other with dishtowels begins.
After dinner I headed downstairs with a Purpose. I'm still on my cleaning/organizing kick and wanted to clear a spot in the storage room for the camping gear, which is now piled on the floor behind the exercise equipment for want of anywhere else to put it. I've been wanting to sort through the arts and crafts boxes for a long time and had decided that's where I would find the space.
Yes, I said 'boxes'. Two large plastic containers, two small plastic containers and four large cardboard boxes of material, filler, old toys, ribbon, beads, Christmas cards, yard, rolls of crepe paper...thirty years worth of leftover projects and garage sale finds and who knows where some of it came from. My kids loved to create things and I encouraged them - cheap fun!
But I knew the time had come to consolidate, toss and give away. I hoped, in the process, to clear a shelf.
Daughter and Daniel kept me company and kept me laughing. The boxes were filled with memories disguised as junk - as well as just plain old random junk - bits of scrap material (the capes of Little Red Riding Hood and Gandalf), plastic cowboys and Indians, old socks (for puppets), miniature collections, feathers, holograph stickers, leftover Star Wars and 3-D Monster and Alien Valentines...it would have been useless for me to sort through it by myself, I realized. I would have kept it all, worried I was throwing away something they could still use or wanted just for sentimental reasons.
With their help, I weeded out two bags of trash and three boxes of still-usables to take to Goodwill. What I kept, an assortment of "sentimental" and "potentially useful", filled two and a half containers that fit neatly on the floor below the desired empty shelf - a shelf with just the right amount of space for the camping gear.
My writing will be neglected this week as well. Time enough for it when they are back at school - I want to spend time with them while I can. Soon enough they'll be out of school for good, living on their own, just like the oldest one. There will be no more chaotic spring or summer breaks...just a few weekends or short vacations every now and then.
I'll even be skipping my workout this morning. Daughter came home with a cough; over her protests, I'm taking her to the doctor this morning before we head to work. It's just like the old days when plans and routines were shoved aside and forgotten like so many to-do lists. But that's okay. My babies are home...for awhile, anyway.
I'm not the only one that's happy the kids are home...Max is happy, happy, happy! (Tom, Frankie and I must be really boring...)
