Wishing Relatives Were Closer

Well, here I am; back at work. The roads are clear enough to drive, the holidays are over and I feel like it's been a millenium rather than just a year since I graced the halls of this building.

It's not much of an exaggeration to say that I went a little stir crazy over the past two weeks; got a bit of the cabin fever. My kids were in rare form and it seemed like the goal of the "vacation" was drive mom as crazy as we can with temper tantrums, demands, messes, loud voices, arguing and general craziness. I know I wasn't the only one who was affected by the snow and the inability to go anywhere and do anything. My kids were feeling it, too, which I'm sure contributed to their behavior. But by last Thursday, I had had it. The forecast called for more snow to hit and the possibility was very strong that I would not be able to go to work the next day (which by that time I was so ready for!) As I watched the snowflakes begin to fall and continue to fall, I decided to bite the bullet and call the University snow line to find out my fate for the next day. The words that I heard pounded in my head: "The University has suspended all operations for Friday, December 29th due to snow....." I hung up the phone....that was all I needed to hear. The day had been awful. They hadn't even been particularly "bad" that day, just rowdy. Needing to release energy. Knowing that I was not going to get a reprieve the next day like I was counting on and dealing with a temper tantrum from my four year old daughter made me sorta, shall we say.... lose it. I laid on the couch, covered my head with a pillow and just cried. I didn't know what else to do. Daddy explained to them that mommy is "sad" and discussed with them their behavior as of late. The next day and the days following were a marked improvement. Guess they don't like seeing mommy cry. Regardless of the reason, I'm just glad it got better. The last few days they have been playing with their new toys together nicely, making play-dough creations (which is now ground into my carpet....any tips on how to get play dough out of carpet?!) and being generally pleasant.

Back in July, we had a family reunion in a lodge by a beautiful lake. My kids got to know all of their second cousins (my cousins kids) and had a great time playing with them. They particularly bonded with The Royal Kids , Anakin with Little Man, and my girls with Princess and Duchess. They talk about them frequently to this day and miss them often. Yesterday, during one of their games, Care Bear suggested they play a game. "I will be Princess, Anakin can be Little Man and Feisty will be Duchess." Feisty then informed her that she was going to be Little Man. For about the next hour, they role played the royal kids and it made me ache for my family so far away. The girls got pound puppies from their Grandma P for Christmas and when filling out the "adoption papers", Care Bear named hers "Duchess" (but her real name) in honor of her far away cousin whom she misses much.

So, now I'm back here. Life is "back to normal", whatever that is, and oddly enough, despite the fact that I was ready for a "break" and longing for adult conversation, I miss my kids a lot. Go figure.

I'm currently working on a new template. Don't know when it'll be done, but it's in progress. So for now, back to the stale one.