List #252: A Quiet House on a Sunday Evening

Our family arrived back from vacation yesterday afternoon. We landed at Pittsburgh International just before dinner time and had a small child sleeping in the backseat within five minutes of the car ride home. We ordered Chinese food for dinner and spent a lot of time chasing the cat around the house and giving him treats because he missed us so much.

There are still suitcases waiting to be unpacked. Laundry certainly needs to be done soon. Work is almost ready to greet us tomorrow morning.

But for now, things are quiet. And all of what will come when the start button gets pushed on tomorrow can wait. On a Sunday evening in our house, when vacation is rubbing off, here is what you will find:

• A quiet house with just the hum of the air conditioning turning off and on.
• A soft kitty giving himself a bath on top of a pile of blankets our house guests left stacked upon a living room chair.
• Two adults with their legs wrapped up in each other as they sit on opposite ends of the couch. 
• A pile of blocks left after one little boy went off to his other house for a few days.
• A pile of unread and half-read New York Times sitting on the far edge of that (very big) couch.
• One man reading the last few pages of a book he can't seem to put down.
• One woman listening to Ingrid Michaelson over and over again again.
• Empty Chinese take-out containers waiting to be thrown out with the night's trash.
• New neighborhoods. On all sides of the house.
• A few stray dirty dishes that need to be put in the dishwasher.
• A light dimmed best for reading.
• A few blisters on someone's foot.
• Two people ignoring work emails for at least a few more hours. 
• Relaxation that is only achieved after successful going on, and returning home, from a week's vacation.

The librarian in our house is about to start the final push of summer reading. The consultant in our house is about to start some new adventures. And the little boy is about to go back to daycare after not being there in over a week. Let's hope the calm can withstand the storm that might begin early in the week. And here's to wishing a few moments of quiet in your week too.