Am I Nuts?

I set appointments to do my visit teaching.*  We only have two people to visit.  One gal is home in the states and the other is here so we have one appointment this month. We are going to visit with her after church on Sunday.  She moved last month from one street away from me to living downtown just walking distance to the church (a 30 minute drive or 1 hour train ride). Our husbands can drive the kids home and me and my partner will take the train home after our visit.

 

Am I crazy to be wildly excited about visiting her?  Just the idea that I can get out of my house. Without my children.  It feels like I will be liberated.  Free to walk without a stroller.  No tripping over sandals or scooters as children stop and start directly in front of me on the sidewalk.  No one will fight over “doing it myself” when it’s time to swipe the train card or be too scared to walk through the automatic gates after they swipe the card and wait too long so they slam back closed again before they go through.

 

I feel like I am drowning here these days.  All the babysitters in the world have shipped themselves back to the US for the summer to visit extended family. There is literally no one left to play with on our entire street for the kids to have play dates.  Beechwood Grove used to be littered with kids and bikes and balls after school let out.  No more.  Today the road is silent, hot, sticky and uninviting.  The ear infection that has kept Maddie down seems to have dissipated but by dissipated I mean that while it has departed her right ear, she still has a runny nose and cough but now Jacob and Ben have it too.  Everyone is tired and whiny and sick. 

 

Today I was so looking forward to going to the Science Center to just get out of the house even if it wasn’t kid free time at least my grown up friends from playgroup would be there.  We bought a season pass a week ago but couldn’t make it.  By the time it was time to pack up and head out at 9:30 am my kids had sunken eyes and dragging bodies.  Everyone looked ready to nap. I had to call Brian to talk me out of going.  As much as I need to depart from these concrete walls, they needed to rest even more.

 

Oh how I wish I could have gone to play with my friends today.  Or out to a movie (I vainly checked the show times knowing there is no way that’s going to happen anytime soon). On the up side, Mary came today and my house is really sparkling clean today.  I do like Wednesdays.  A clean floor makes my outlook on life dramatically better.   And I made homemade lasagna for dinner.  Then I realized Brian has to go teach scouts tonight downtown after work. Sigh.  Good food but no one will care or appreciate it.  Maybe we all need to go to bed early tonight.  For now, I’m going to remain really, really excited about my train ride and walk home in the sticky heat after church on Sunday because I really, really need it.

 

*Visit Teaching is a program in the women’s group of our church.  Two women teams are assigned to watch out, care for and visit with other women in the congregation.  It’s awesome and helps make sure that people aren’t forgotten or overlooked.  We’re only really asked to do two things and even that is to be tailored to meet the needs of the individual.  We should check in at least once a month with our ladies and deliver a spiritual message to uplift them.