Very, very quiet

Monday, 5:22 pm

By Kate

Jul

30

2007

Alrighty then. The lad left a couple of hours ago and the house looks like a bomb went off. I swear that it will take the rest of August to get it back to neat and tidy. I’m taking it a little easy on myself the rest of today and probably little will get done other than shaking my head and wondering where in the world to begin.

So, I shed a few tears after he left and I wandered around the house feeling sad and hating the quiet. It felt as if a major life force had been sucked out of the house. But, then I had a talk with myself and decided that I was being quite silly. He’s not really GONE, he’s just someplace else. And happy. We have had a wonderful summer and have had many a long conversation. And I know that he’s ready to get back to school and see all his friends, but he is also happy to spend relaxed time with his Dad. They both need it. My little talk with myself seems to have mostly worked. I think I’ll be back to normal tomorrow and I also realize that it’s pretty normal to feel sad and a little scattered when someone you love leaves after an extended visit.

In any case, there is now a very long list of Things To Do on my desk and I’m rather looking forward to ticking them off, one by one. Some are gardening projects and finishing the deck and others require dragging furniture around the house. I haven’t rearranged furniture in a while. And, of course, there is sorting the lad’s stuff and washing it so that, when he returns at the end of August, we won’t be working at a frenzied pace to get him packed. Easier on me, easier on him.

And I have finally decided that grass growing in the side front yard is never going to happen unless I get a load of topsoil in the spring. The grass I planted this year has completely fried and has been replaced with quack grass. At least it’s green, but it’s not the effect I was going for. Top soil in the spring for SOME grass and for seriously large raised beds with heavy mulch. That’s what I should have done this year. Graphing that out will be a winter project. It’s just going to aggravate me to death looking at it for the rest of this season, though.