August 23, 2006 | Mama Smith

home sweet home

We’re back in our groove after a mere 3 days of our return. Why Brighton was a terror by night in Virginia, we’ll never know. But his first night home he was sleeping through the night again and offering his mom her much needed rest. Part of this may be due to the fact that he’s a whole bedroom away with a/c units running in both our rooms…instead of a flimsy bathroom door away, like he was in VA. This morning, he woke up at 5:30am and I was SO glad to be in my own room without having to worry about him waking up my sister, where he could talk and fuss on his own for a few minutes before falling back asleep until 6:30am. I can do 6:30…but I refuse to do 5:30am. I doubt he’d want me to do 5:30 either if he actually could think it through or he might get my coffee in his sippy cup, by mistake, while I absentmindly sip his juice in my mug.

Matthew, on the other hand, finally had all these overseas trips catch up on him. Poor guy. A seemingly innocent cough has now turned into a nasty cold sapping him of any small amount of energy he had left after time-zone adjustments and all. Last night we both crawled into bed at 8:30pm – for the second night in a row – if that says anything!

But I’m willing to take care of these two men, just to be back in our house and settling back in for a good long while. We met friends for coffee this morning and are cooking out with our neighbors before they head to London this weekend. It just feels good to be back in our community after what felt like a 2 month hiatus. It’s nice to take a break from the routine every now and then, but personally, I need my friends and to be grounded by other people’s lives, needs, joys, struggles. When it’s just me and my world, my perspective gets both very small and hugely ego-centric symultaneously.

So the schedule for this week is to rest, rest, rest and enjoy being back together as a family. It’s been a sweet reunion thus far. Hopefully on Mattthew’s day off this Friday, we’ll get to head up to our favorite spot, Frenchtown, to pick apples and enjoy this gorgeous weather. Or if this cold persists, we’ll rent a ton of movies and park ourselves on the couch instead :)