Every summer for the last seven years, JP and the kids clear out of Alamo for a few weeks and go to the family beach house in Olympia Washington. That time has come, and they all leave early on Tuesday morning. The time on the beach is great for them, not so great for me, as my full time job keeps me home all summer.
So for ten days (until I meet up with everyone in Sun Valley to celebrate July 4th) I will roam my house alone, missing my family. The problem with a house like mine, is that 50 weeks of the year, it's a fabulous celebration of our happy life together. But two weeks of the year, everything in it makes me miss my family:
Pictures everywhere of the kids in various ages and stages
Kids art hanging on the walls
The map that's marked with all the Furber family travels
The big kitchen table with lots of chairs around it -- when my family's gone, I eat standing up in the kitchen. Too lonely to sit at that giant table without JP and the kids
The drawer full of plastic cups, plates and straws for Katie so she can get her own food when she wants to
Ugh. I'm dreading Tuesday morning, but dreading Tuesday night more when I come home from work to an empty house. I'm not usually a person who relishes the moments when I'm alone in my house (in fact I can't think of very many of those). I like the signs of life my family brings to my house: a little noise, a mess here and there, balls bouncing in the driveway, the occasional power struggle between Jack and Katie. The contrast of all that one day and a clean, quiet, empty house the next. Yuck.
Bon voyage, Furber family. Don't miss me as much as I'll miss you.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
1 Furber House - 4 Furbers = 1 Lonely Mom
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Wow! This really rang true for me. Mike has taken the kids to Santa Barbara for the first two weeks of every summer for the past five years (and I took them the two years before that). This year the tradition will be broken due to football camp, volleyball camp, and commitment to go to Santa Barbara in October instead.
I must confess I really looked forward to the silence and the clean house, but after two days I would be OVER IT. Then, I would kick into "project mode" and attempt to transform some room or outdoor space before they returned (generally succeeding!).
Looking forward to catching up with you in August!
Post a Comment