Empty Nests

Yesterday, for the first time in many months I had 3.5 glorious hours of alone time that didn't involve a either a lacrosse game or a public meeting. It was 100% non-scheduled, child-free time and it was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. I accomplished more in 3.5 hours that I could have finished in a day if Ben were with me. In only 3.5 short hours, I pruned and bagged two bushes, weeded ten square feet of flower bed and applied mulch, showered and dressed, got a sorely needed haircut with blow dry, made and ate lunch, ran to the farmer's market and bought vegetables, and even read the paper for a few minutes. Absolutely delightful.

You know what I didn't do for those 3.5 hours? Change diapers, listen to Ben and/or Caroline screaming at each other or myself, open or close the refrigerator and/or pantry door 75 times, pick-up or put away any toys, explain "why" or say "no", buckle any car seats, manage any waste or hygiene activities, clean up any spills, or discipline any behavior. I do love my children, but they really are exhausting.

I enjoyed this lovely respite from todderdom because Ben went to the zoo with Grandad and Caroline stayed at preschool for Lunch and Play. This short break was just a tiny taste of the much anticipated bliss that awaits me next September when Ben, Caroline, and Abby will be simultaneously at school. Now the actual "empty nest" break will only occur on M-W-F from about 9:00 am (preschool drop-off) until 11:45 (Kindergarten pick-up). The 8.25 hour break does not include commuting time, so the actual productive time will be limited to 7.5 hours per week, but it's going to be wonderful. I fully realize that I won't be kicking back my heels and eating bon-bons for that time, but the real actual possibility exists that I might do some work (paid technical work!) for that period or maybe just go shopping without re-stocking the shelves along the way.

Yesterday's break came at an excellent time because, as I'm sure Scott can woefully attest, I have been a wee bit testy this week (gross understatement). I really can't explain why this week would bother me more than any other week. Perhaps it was the gloomy weather early in the week....or maybe because the lacrosse season is drawing to a close....or maybe the kids really were extra naughty....or maybe because there are so many extra end-of-year activities on the schedule that I just can't take it anymore....or the combination of all that....but for the moment, my mood is re-set to normal and it's sunny outside.

Speaking of outside, the cardinal nest outside our window was empty this morning. Initially I was afraid that the neighborhood cats made a snack out of the baby cardinals. But after the 100 decibel roar of the neighbor’s yard service came to a merciful halt, I heard the baby’s distinctive and shrill cries on the side of the house. The two little ones have fledged the nest! Today, I believe they are taking flying lessons in the backyard. I spied the mother and the father jumping from branch to branch and the little peeps are following behind, sort of. Apparently, flying is more of a learned behavior than I thought. While the adults glide and land quite gracefully, the other two are kind of crashing around. Their landings are so rough that the branches violently shake on landing – quite a feat when you think of the force it would require for a creature that is only a couple of ounces in weight to move a branch.

While these little ones are learning to fly (and land), we’ll turn our attention to a second nest that has been built near the house – actually on the house on top of the porch light. This is a robin’s nest with 2 or 3 bright blue eggs. We scare the poor robin out of the nest every time we open the front door, poor thing. I’ll be listening for some more little peeps soon.

Final note (for those of you interested in lacrosse updates...mom? dad?) Tuesday's playoff Round 1 game went very smoothly.  The carded coach was on extremely good behavior and even cordial.  He greeted me on the field by my first name (uh... I guess he remembers me...). Of course, it helped that his team won by a significant margin of goals.  However, the game went well enough that I got assigned a Round 2 playoff game yesterday!  My very first Round 2 game!  Cool, right??  No problems yesterday either, but that is probably the end of the season for me, except for the big District Rating Event later this summer.