in which the day met me

i spent the day to myself, at home, this very day. alone. what a glorious word to type. just saying it. ALONE. that word is something that a wife, a mother of 4, and homeschooler RARELY knows exists.
this was my time, spent doing what I like.

i sweat myself silly, toiling in the garden, getting dirt under my nails, and ingesting the ripe cabbage smells of late summer gardening.

i turned the AC as high as it would go, curled up with a blanket and book, and read for hours.

i ignored toys and laundry that were strewn about in rooms and under tables and chairs.

i didn't pull my chair up to the table to eat, deciding instead leave the chair askewed and placed one foot up on the seat of the chair, letting my knee curl up to my chin. and the other foot i let dangle above the floor in a willy-nilly erratic sort of way. there was no one to see. no one to tell me to show more propriety whilst dining.

i took a bath. a really long bath. and not because i needed one. but just because.

i changed out of my pajamas and got into a clean pair of pajamas, at 2 in the afternoon.

i did not look at school books or my calendar, or wash my dishes, or answer emails and texts.

i read some more.

i let myself get distracted watching butterflies court and twirl among the leaves of our fig tree.
i closed my eyes and tried to hear their love making. it sounded similar to the little pit-pat-pat that the rain gives just before a big ole downpour.


my family is due to return any minute. i missed them, in a way that any mother would. they are a constant part of my life, ever present. their little souls, even with the nasty bits that come with raising little children (and i hear even the grown ones), i missed. my head and body needed this rest today, though. a little windex clean for the brain does a mommy good.

ahhh, here they are. their tiny faces greeting me.....
and so, with that, i resume my former life. rested and content.