it's oh so quiet

It’s peaceful and very quiet in my house right now.
There is just the hum of the refrigerator and me.
My sweet husband took the boys out camping.

I love that he is willing and brave enough to stand up to the midday heat, relentless mosquitoes and inevitable camping mishaps.
Oh, the stories they’ll come home with.

I get to relax or race if and when I want to. I rarely get long stretches like these and, boy, do I need them. They are gone just long enough for me to begin to miss the CiRcUs AtMoSpHeRe again.

It is nice to have quiet in one's life.

The ebb and flow of mothering is constant, and yet always changing.
They are growing. I am growing.
It is a fun dance when you learn when to lead and when to follow, when to speed up and when to slow down.
But mostly, when you make a mistake, learn to pick yourself back up, smile gracefully, grow from your experience and pass your wisdom on to someone else.

Each time the boys come back from camping with dad they seem older. Their voices are deeper, they have grown an inch, they have learned new skills (like using a two-man, hand saw to cut firewood; Oh, they can skip that story!) and they seem to be growing beards.
I think the beards are sticky remnants of s’mores and dirt but I really can’t be sure.

I do know they haven’t been coddled by a mother and they need that time as well.
There isn’t a hovering mother wiping dirty faces, forewarning them about the dangers of campfires, cautioning them to be careful in the lake and reminding them not to pee under that tree.

The boys need their quiet too.

I will welcome their sweaty hugs, stinky laundry, tall tales, the spider that hitched a ride in their backpack, the deeper voices and then...after all the adventures have been told…………………then I will check their heads for ticks and let them soak in the tub until they are squeaky clean again.