savoring smooth sailing

Well this, too, has passed. The candidate left my front porch under the weight of a couple thousand stuffed envelopes. This task is behind us, but it’s an April election so the next six weeks could be full of last minute tasks for women known to be willing to volunteer.

The housework was moved under the volunteer heading on my to-do list because, well, I really didn’t want some of the women helping me seeing how I aCtuAllY live! But it was just overdue dusting, etc., and so it came and went quickly once I settled into doing it. We even found most of the carpeting in the boys’ rooms, Mr. 7 did the work himself :)

The third-grade book report will be turned in right on time today, along with Valentines and the obligatory decorated box. I sure hope Capt. Kindergarten and I get to “play karate” today. I woke up a bit stiff and grumpy so the movement would serve me well.

The Sudafed Pez Dispenser has slowed to about four squeezes a day. Everyone is on the tail end of the cold now, just in time for another hit of winter weather, which puts a question mark over the classroom parties set for tomorrow, but we room moms are ready. Now we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

But what’s been so nice about the past few days is the empowerment that comes from doing something with someone else. Sure, we could have split up the materials, stuffed the envelopes individually at home and returned them to the candidate. And we might not have stuffed them any faster as a group, but the time went by faster as we talked about transitioning to middle school, the price of groceries, planning summer trips, etc. The cleaning, too, went by quickly because each kid straitened up a bedroom while hubby and I worked on ours. The work that went into dinner with friends both Saturday and Sunday nights seemed to fly by, as did the meals, because of the conversations that zipped over the kids’ heads as they moved through the kitchen.

And this is part of the joy in the family meal. The food, as I’ve said before, is secondary. It’s the gathering that we look forward to. That is why I was so touched when my old roommate stopped by this space and shared her memories of those Thursday nights in the early ’90s. Sometimes you just have to stop, take a deep breath, and celebrate what you have. No books, no boyfriends, no resume mailing. Nothing but us, the food we could scrounge up and NBC TV. Good times. And with all the emphasis on romantic connections this week, maybe we should take a deep breath and savor the many other connections in our lives … the lunches with friends, the date-night rendezvous that leaves the kids at home, the girlfriends toasting each other at happy hour, the guys still reveling in that Colts victory, the kid-friendly Valentine’s Day dinner for four. The list could go on forever. Help me out. Who will you eat with this week?