A week from today will be the end of what I predicted would be some of the hardest weeks of our life as a family. They haven't been as hard as I predicted, but they haven't been easy. We have sometimes had 11 kids, a boyfriend, and a baby living here and that is a lot of bodies (2 parents were here too). There have been minor crisis and some difficult days.
Obviously the crises haven't all gone away, but the number of people is about to dwindle. A week from today I take Tony to spend most of the summer with Bart's mom. He loves it there and she enjoys having him. He works hard, gets plenty of attention, doesn't have to compete with anyone, and he actually makes some money -- usually that he has to use to pay us back for money he has stolen or borrowed, but he is faithful to do so. It's a good arrangement for everyone.
Rand is heading to work at a camp this summer. A United Mehtodist Church camp, he will live there for almost 3 months and work in the kitchen. He will love it. It perfectly fits his personality. Working and sitting around talking, plenty of people to meet. He will have a wonderful time, will not have to deal with me constantly harassing him, and will be making money to pay us back what he owes us as well. (Knowing he had the job we've been paying for his car insurance and cell phone bill because he agreed to pay us back this summer).
While I will miss them, they are responsible, between the two of them, for about half of the noise in the house. They are consistently bickering with each other and everyone else, often very loudly. Not having them here will provide a great deal of relief in regards to noise in the house, in addition to the alleviation of conflict. And since Rand seldom goes anywhere but church and errands he runs for us, not having him consistently sitting around with nothing to do will be nice. Even on days when I have him work in exchnage for his room and board, he is still usually in front of the TV for 5-7 hours of the day.
When school gets out Dominyk will have PCA hours for most of the day. He is responsible for 25% of the noise level in the house. Wow, i'm going to be down to only 25% if my math is correct, of the noise I am accustomed to.
Those things will allow for some calm times here and I need them. I am frazzled lately with all the demands. I am attempting to do too much, and I realize that. Most of the things I chose: jobs, travel, writing, speaking, and parenting children. What I didn't realize was how emotionally exhausting parenting "adults" can be -- and how much they need. Their drama level in their lives is really high and they are starting to ask me for support in various ways, which is a good sign, but it is exhausting.
I love school more than most people, but I will not miss having to get everyone up and out the door every morning. I iwll not miss the 30 minutes it takes to get them where they need to be each day. I will not miss the very half hour that I'm about to begin.
It's going to be a long week. Sadie graduates from 8th grade tonight. Salinda has a court hearing next week that I have to give her a ride too. We have a church directory picture (yes, that will be as bad as it sounds). There are end of the year parties and picnics and field trips and special events requiring cash for this person one day and that person the next. But there is light and the end of the long tunnel and we're all gonna get there.
Now many of you are already done and school is out for you.... but we have one more week.... Four more days after today. And then life will change considerably. I think we'll all be doing better and feeling like we have some psychic space. I sure hope so.
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