Quiet

While I adore my little family, I am ever so glad that my dear husband and child have returned to work and school. Even the dogs are more settled and curled up in balls in their sun spots as opposed to their usual neurotic barking-at-every-sound temperament.

I look around and see the wreckage that holiday break has left behind. Though I smile to see the gifts that were opened and evoked squeals of joy from my 6 year-old, and the new Kindle Fire that consumed my husband most of his days off around the house, I am glad to be able to finally straighten up the room and return to the usual clutter. I sit at my laptop perfectly content to prepare for my new semester, catch up on ignored e-mails, and otherwise get back to my same-old/same-old. Even though my laptop keys are click-clacking away and Infinity "MusicChoice" plays as my background, I still consider this to be quiet. I am not living in fear that this quiet means my son is hiding somewhere cutting his hair, or burning the end of a pencil in the lit candle in the bathroom (both true stories.) I can just enjoy and feel accomplished as I check away at my to-do list.

If you had a spouse and/or children returned to the grind this week, what will this change for you? Will routine go on as normal, do you miss the hustle and bustle of the season, or are you reveling in the calm as I am? I miss the family together-laziness, but will not miss the bored child deciding it would be a great idea to put small glass-ball ornaments in his mouth and spit them at the wall to see them shatter....another true story...I welcome the promise of a new calendar year and settling back into that crazy routine I complain about so much...part of me craves that constant movement...the other part will continue to sit here and enjoy the quiet :)