Sunday morning and it’s… raining and pouring. The air holds the tropical well, so everything feels soft and damp and oddly tender. Saskia wonders at eight in the morning when the rain will stop.
I think the air calls for palm trees, maybe some sand between my toes.
That’s today. Just before I drifted off last night, I listened to Goodnight, Irene.
**
I was gratified that my pre-storm offering on the front porch of puzzles and games more or less disappeared. I hope my friends enjoy some cozy unplugged playing on this stormy day. I’m even more gratified that the shelves in the front hallway aren’t so overcrowded. Clothes, toys, games, puzzles and books went away while the house was emptier of people. A pantry got cleaned out. While I stayed up late clearing clutter too many nights to finish out the summer entirely rested, between the cleaning, the quieter house, the connections with old friends, and the yoga, somewhat restored. I feel more relaxed.
I also feel like there are some necessary changes I wanted but couldn’t begin to articulate, because I was too crowded by my teenagers’ presence, especially this summer when, in vacation mode, they were justified to just hang out. I am all for hanging out.
And, at the same time I’m ready to say there was too much screen/television time. I didn’t care so much at the time, but actually, it was numbing to keep coming up against. And they got lethargic, as if the only downtime was nearly out time. I watched Saskia do things like narrate her own stories and look out the window and play with Duplo and cut teeny, tiny pieces of paper up and realized that when older boys are always watching, she watches so much more and doesn’t do all these other fun things.
The handheld mobile devices went on vacation.
The girl barely glanced at a screen and I feel confident in saying she didn’t actually miss screens.
Besides thinking less screen, while I was putting many of the bigger boys’ things into their spaces, I figured out a couple of ground rules to begin once they’re back: 1. There will be spots for backpacks but if stuff lands elsewhere like the tables, couches, or counters, said stuff will be moved to their spaces. 2. While I can’t dictate cleanliness or even cooperativeness, I can be less accommodating about doling out “perks” when I don’t feel those things coming back in my direction. 3. Because the house needs more quiet, I am going to institute a you-can-read-in-bed bedtime for the teens. I’m thinking of some new rules much as I did the weeding out of stuff in the house—calming for the nervous system.
Here’s hoping I’m not brewing storms under this roof.
