home alone...

Who in the world can count on one hand how many times they have been home alone in the last 33 years? Or in their whole life, for that matter. My house growing up was Grand Central Station-ish, too, with seven kids and my mom being the Kool-Aid Mom.

But today, I am home alone. All alone, except for the dogs and the cats.

And they're not doing much.

Paul, Benjamin, Mariel, Margaret, Evelyn, and Suzanne are working at the Dome, football game. Kathryn is at work, Emily is at a medical conference, Abigail took Sonja, Jonathan, Char, and Cam up to Canada for the weekend. (Aaron is in Oregon, and Joseph is helping Molly pick up a piano)(And Sam in in Virginia)...just in case you wanted to know where they all are...:)

Kathryn will be home from work in half an hour, and the ones going to Canada left at noon, so it's only four+ hours home alone...

I can't believe I managed to eke out this much alone time! Paul texted me and said I should take the dogs to the canal to walk. Well, I told him, believe it or not, I am finding plenty to do here! I had small children ever single day this past week, and though I love them dearly, it's easy for things to slide while you are reading books, getting toys out, and washing sticky hands.

I started my alone time by cleaning up a huge mess I made myself, a coffee spill. How much coffee fits into one mug, anyway? It flew here, there, and everywhere, but mostly all over my phone, which did dry off and still works. It got me to clean under the dining table, as I had to move it anyway to mop up the coffee. Then I cleared off counters, putting away things we don't use much, like the French coffee press, and some old candles. I sorted through almost empty chip bags and threw away partial packs of crackers. I washed dishes, washed clothes, cleaned floors, and sorted baskets of odds and ends, all the while listening to...nothing. The quiet is like music.

Then Paul called, peace and quiet doesn't last very long...he told me Joseph got in a car accident, and I went from la-de-dah to tears in one second flat. Joe is fine, Paul said, but his car is totaled. Benjamin went to pick him up. I don't know any of the details, and I am glad Joe is okay, but ugh, those are those dreaded phone calls, and Joseph IS my favorite child, even though he's all grown up and married. I tell you. I know he's all grown up, but I still hear him saying how he hates buttons on his shirts, and remember the time one of his good long sleeved polos went missing, and he insisted that God didn't want him to wear that shirt. I think he threw it away. Anyway, I know he's a big boy, but he had such a nice car, all paid off, and bam. I hope he had good insurance, when you don't have a loan, you don't have to have comprehensive insurance in New York state, and if he just had liability insurance, dang it, he won't get a penny.

But, he's all grown up now, right? oh, my heart, my soul, it will never not ache when my kids suffer.

Here's the plan: I am putting ten pounds of wings in the oven, Kathryn is bringing home a pizza, and we are having a party tonight! Mariel is coming over, and Evelyn and Suzanne will be here, and Paul...and wah, Joe and Beth were invited, wonder if they'll come now....

Here's what we did yesterday: Home Depot! We are trying to choose flooring for the bedrooms...
But there's always time to look at the Christmas trees with sweet little Lydia!


I better go put those wings in...time flies when you're having a nice quiet day.