pieces and ponderings

It’s been almost two months since child number 2, Daughter, moved into her college dorm.  I still miss her.  I’m not mourning her being gone…she is doing well and that pleases me greatly…I’m HAPPY for her…I’m just marking some of the differences there are in life at home now…now that it’s just me and Bryan Darling and our three youngest sons.  It’s different.  It’s not bad different and it’s not good different…it’s just different and I am trying to embrace it because it’s a special season…just like every season.

Child number 3 is 17, child number 4 is 15 and child number 5 is 11.  They make life interesting.  They make life fun.

Up until the last two months, I’ve had another female in the house with me…well for 18+ years.  Now, I’m doing the female thing solo in a house full of testosterone and…it’s…well…different.

Conversations at the dinner table are different…more “guy” talk…and more “guy” noises…that make my guys laugh and speak “guy” talk about “guy” noises…then they blame it all on me and laugh about it.  They laugh about it a lot.

Conversations in the car are different too.  The other day all three guys were riding to town with their dad and me.  Here is a sample of their conversation (I will try to relay it accurately…I may embellish just a bit…but not much).

One son:  “My new goal in life is to be banned from a country.”

Other son:  “Yeah, that would be great.  But which country should we get banned from?”

First son:  “Let’s get banned from a small country in Europe.”

Other son:  (Names several countries and then…)  “What aboutSwitzerland?”

Their Father:  “No, you don’t want to get banned fromSwitzerland.”

Their Mother:  (thinking to myself)  “Is this a real conversation?”  (then speaking out loud to husband)  “What do you mean they don’t want to get banned from Switzerland?  I don’t want my sons getting banned from ANY country!”

Sons continue to discuss with their father the pros and cons of getting banned from various countries…mother looks out the car window.

This is the kind of “different” that I’m talking about.  That evening we were going to watch a movie.  Because I had watched 72 hours of football, which I like by the way…but there can be TOO MUCH!  I looked through our movies and saw “Ramona and Beezus.”  I love “Ramona and Beezus!”  I grabbed it from the movie cabinet and skipped and twirled through the house announcing our movie choice in a sing-songy high-pitched voice.

Some of my guys were ok with my choice…some were not…we watched “Thor.”

What is wrong with this picture?  There is nothing “wrong” with the picture…it’s just a different picture than I’ve been accustomed to.

I can’t ever foresee myself  skipping and twirling through our house announcing to anybody that “Thor” is the movie choice for the evening in a sing-songy voice…it’s not going to happen (I do really like “Captain America” though).

I definitely DO see myself continuing to laugh with my guys through their conversations and their kidding of their mom about everything under the sun…and I do mean “everything.”  AND I will continue to embrace this very special season with these guys whom I love so much.

(Even as I write this, there is a really “guy” conversation coming from the next room where the three brothers are engaged in a video “Star Wars” battle…gotta love it!