Family Night

Today I felt like a family. That sounds ridiculous, because what else would the seven of us be? But tonight we weren't over-scheduled. We ate together something tasty that I cooked at the same table at the same time. The homework got done. A neighbor kid came over to play in the yard. We took a long walk in the neighborhood and through a woodsy path. We gave thanks for the cooler spring temperatures and dazzling azaleas. We sat and watched the geese and their goslings skim across the water. We read nighttime stories on the back porch the way we dreamed we would when we built our house five years ago. Lovely.

We believe that Wednesday night church is worth doing, and that there is good benefit from ballet lessons and playing on ball teams. But we adore an evening when there is nowhere that we have to go...which is almost never.

Today my husband had traveled out of state and was home earlier than usual from his trip. For a few hours we were all together, and there was laughter instead of bickering. Walking instead of sitting. Being outside instead of in.

This makes me wonder how much of our irritation with each other is from being too much on the go. I'll need to simmer on that a little longer before we make any summer commitments. I see someone has already filled out forms for swim team. Hmmm.

This is a box of weeds that I dug up from the side of the road. I'm thinking that if these can survive all on their own in the wild, they might survive under my care. Let the experiment begin!