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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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Aluminum cans-they are everywhere. On the end tables, the kitchen counter, in the refrigerator-I am being overrun by drinks with varying labels. Arizona Tea, Monster or whatever the energy drink du jour might be.
Then there is the laundry basket that sits in my living room...filled with college laundry that seems to be growing, reproducing daily, along with the trail of clothes that line the floor to the laundry room. We probably shouldn’t even talk about the laundry room.
Art supplies, a laptop, pillows and comforter have taken residence on my couch. If I wake up late at night, the person that claims the comforter is sitting in the dark, watching sitcoms that tickle her fancy: LA Ink, Myth Busters, a wide variety of comedic relief. When my alarm clock finally wakes me for work, I find the television still lighting the dark room, the shadowy figure from hours before is soundly snoozing on my couch. A smaller lump, which fits nicely on an easy chair, sleeps soundly across the room, so excited that his sister is home from college that he hasn’t slept in his room since she arrived two weeks ago.
My daughter made her grand entrance home from college late on a Friday night. It was a lonely homecoming for her, the house empty because mom was out painting the town on a date, her brothers and sister were spending the weekend at Nana’s, making holiday cookies. Taylor is resourceful: she found it easy to settle herself in. She wasted no time inviting friends she had missed during her first semester at school. One who she had to say goodbye to only a few days later because she too was making her way to college, a few states away.
Since her arrival she has spent many hours working the busy Christmas season at Hobby Lobby, and plenty of time in between with her brothers and sisters. Hours of Xbox have been played, Netflix watched and who knows how many trips to Walgreens have been made for what seems to be a never ending supply of Arizona Tea and Monster drinks and yes, a little Christmas present shopping.
It is nice to have my daughter back, her presence bringing me much joy. Months ago, when I dropped her off to her home away from home, there was a tiny hole left in my heart. There was no doubt college was where she wanted to be, needed to be, but my house was empty. Four dinner plates replaced the usual five, the car became roomier and church didn’t seem the same. Social networking and a family cell phone plan keep us connected and I am aware of her comings and goings through the feed on my Facebook account, the late nights she keeps, the company she shares. I am thankful for the technology that keeps our lines of communication open.
Her homecoming, which came in a flurry of the chaotic, Christmas season, has been about sitting together as a family at church-again. The car is a little more crowded and the dishes pile up a little faster- they are all wonderful sacrifices that I can easily make for the precious month that we are a family of five once again.
These sacrifices come with a few problems; I have become painfully aware during this week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. I am finding anarchy in the laundry room, no line visible between college daughter’s laundry and that of her sibling’s that still live in the confines of my home. So today, after I write this, the mean-er mom in me must rear her ugly head and declare herself on strike-I refuse to sort out the mess that I have not made. My laundry is clean, household laundry done, and I know I must pass the buck. There are lessons to be learned, even if you aren’t going to school for a week or two.
Two more weeks stand between today and my daughter’s travels north to her home away from home. It will not be all about laundry, late night television sightings and trash around the house. It will be about filling that little hole that was left in my heart in August, with these memories, to hold me through until she comes home for the summer. I can recycle the cans left behind and the laundry is only temporary, but our time spent together is precious and fleeting.
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