Sunday, June 22, 2008

My Smaller Family

As we head into the week, we are short two here at home. My husband took our oldest (nine) on a business trip with him and so it is just me and the three younger ones here. We both thought it was a great opportunity for our son, and he has been so excited for the last few days that I wasn't really sure he was going to make it to the airport. I am so accustomed to counting four, having two pair to keep up with, that anything less feels like a piece of cake. I do miss my sweet boy. I wasn't prepared for how intensely his younger siblings feel, though. It isn't jealousy at all. There was a little jealousy at first, but they truly miss him. I've heard "When will he be back?" at least 15 times since they left midmorning today. Dad? Yeah, him, too, but mostly their brother. It's as if they sense their incompleteness.

To put it in a scientific way, I had thought that they were like gas molecules, expanding to take up the available space. But in reality they act more like a crystal, everyone with their ordered place.

But now they are all resting and quiet has descended on my home. The younger brother did say he was looking forward to staying up as late as he wanted...they share a room and the older one is always telling him to quit reading at night and put out the light.

(To my dear husband who checks in on this blog occasionally...we miss you both. Have a great time. We don't like being so few under this roof!)

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