And The Livin' Is Easy...

Well, for those of you keeping track, there are only 2 children living here this week, what with David and Rachel being at Civil Air Patrol Encampment.  Larry and I ended up both taking Susie to the pool on Sunday, which - to parents programmed to perform to maximum efficiency - felt odd and wasteful. "When was the last time we did this?" I asked Larry.  "The two of us taking one kid to the pool, I mean?"

He thought a moment.  "I think it was when you were pregnant with Anna.  Remember? We brought Theo to that indoor pool so you could swim laps, and he cried every time we put him in the water."

Okay, so that was, uh, exactly 22 years ago.  Time flies, eh?

So we attempted to relax at the pool like normal people do, but I think it is going to take some practice.  Then, on Monday, Susie came running inside and announced that our neighbor's nanny had offered to take her to the pool along with her charges.  I started to say that I would take Susie to the pool myself, but then I stopped and thought, Why? The kid's already passed her swim test. "Okay," I told her, "go ahead!"

Does not go well with summer

And there I was, in a quiet house (Brian was hiding, because he was afraid I would torture him with more Algebra), free to actually, you know, accomplish things. So I Swiffered under my bed and put away all my winter clothes (hey, better late than never, okay?), and I even found all the hangers that have been missing since Larry tore apart my closet.  THEN I cleaned 2 bathrooms and - get this - neatened up the linen closet.

Look - unless you've been raising as many kids as I have for as long as I have (and homeschooling them to boot), you just cannot understand how ODD this all feels. No one interrupted me (well, except the Internet, because I lack discipline), no one had to be told to do something, no one got in my way.


WEIRD.

Is this how normal people live?  It feels so, I don't know, unpressured. I mean, how do you make yourselves do things, without the threat of imminent chaos breathing down your necks?  And how do you make yourselves cook dinner, when Jerry's Subs has a $6 large pizza special on Monday nights and you only have 2 kids to feed and there's some bagged salad in the fridge?

6 bucks, people - what's not to like?