On Being Glad about the Big Return

The Boy comes home later today. This puts a smile on my face. He will most likely be tired and grumpy after a week of sharing a room with 3 other boys, but who cares? Tonight he will eat us out of house and home and beg to stay up late...and I will be thankful for 'life back to normal'.

Little One declares that she didn't miss him, but 2 nights ago, she lay in bed crying because her teeth were killing her after a 'braces adjustment". "Stupid Boy" she declared. "Stupid Boy what?" I asked. "He's not even here". She didn't answer, just laid there crying. "Do you miss him?"....."NO!"................."Maybe just a tiny bit?".......and there it was...a tiny, tiny nod of the head, so subtle that it may not have been visible to any other human eye besides her mom's....Minutes later, she denied the whole thing...

Last night, The Husband and I had a 'date night' at the Olive Garden. With Little One along. "Just pretend she isn't here" said The Husband. Now, what does the fact that I was unbelievably thrilled about this date tell you? Two things. I don't have very sophisticated culinary taste.....and I am always thrilled not to have to cook. The nice things about these dates is that I hear things from The Husband that may normally go unnoticed. Major things. I mean, it's not that we don't talk or communicate on a daily basis....but with 4 kids, several businesses, baseball, softball, dance, plays....sometimes the only things we cover during the course of a day is "Do I have any clean socks?" or "Do the Braves play tonight". So the chance to sit down to dinner together and chat about random "stuff' is nice. Last night, I learned a few new things...but the funny thing about The Husband is that he always swears he has told me these things. And I swear he hasn't. "You just don't listen to me" he says. This could be true, but I refuse to admit it. The fact is, The Husband has a tendency to be tad bit critical...so it may be true that I occasionally tune him out. But last night I was listening, and I fill like I acquired several weeks worth of information. This makes me happy. In fact, the only down-side of the evening was that I forgot my leftovers...which will make lunch so much less exciting today. (Not to mention the fact that The Husband chastised me the whole way home)

So today, as I await the "hour of return" for The Boy, I will be thankful for busy weeks and safe returns....