This Is The Part Of The Roller Coaster Where I Go, “Wheeee!”

I have a habit of comparing all different measures of time to a roller coaster.

“Oh my gosh, those two hours were like a roller coaster!”

“I had a roller-coaster kind of day.”

“Last week was really up and down, like a roller coaster.”

The fact is, life is like a roller coaster. I’m glad about that, too: if there were no ups and downs, things would be pretty boring. (Naturally I prefer the ups, but you can’t have them without downs!)

The stress of sending J to college six weeks ago was quite enormous, and as much as I knew that things were going according to plan it was still difficult. Afterwards, I discovered exactly what I expected: that being home with Jim and the dog but no kids is actually fine.

Not even fine. FUN.

Enjoying my life when they’re not around daily anymore doesn’t mean I love my kids any less, of course. They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing and I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.

I’ve done some traveling (with three more trips planned in the next eight weeks!), I’ve changed the way I shop for groceries, I’ve started purging extra stuff we have laying around the house, I’m getting cabinets and closets (and our crawl space) organized. Jim and I are doing fun things just about every weekend.

In six short weeks, I’ve adjusted perfectly.

Today, everybody’s home. It’s a little weird but so awesome. J has been playing video games with his best friend, who also came home for the weekend. I picked D up at the train station and after he ran a couple of errands with my car he ate some lunch and is now working on some homework. Jim just returned from a bike ride. I’ve done a little baking. The dishwasher is humming. The washer and dryer are going. Roxie doesn’t know who to look at and her tail keeps wagging. My sister is even coming over so we can have a Fab Five family dinner.

Life is good, and when they go back to school? Still good. I’m counting my blessings all over the place today.