I told you yesterday was a full day, right?  I thought I’d give you a general run down of what that means in my house, though it’s hard to describe the constant coming and going of all the kids and their activities.

Saturday night, the two older girls slept over at friends.  First thing Sunday morning (ie, 6:15), ds15 went to his daily class (amud shiur).  Before he is home for breakfast, ds9 goes to his piano lesson, dd13 goes directly from sleepover to Girl Scout hike (all day long), and dd12 walks home in time for her piano lesson. 

We had a late breakfast with almost everyone home, and as soon as that was over, ds9’s best friend comes over to bake cookies.  I retire to my quiet room to try to prepare for the party and make several phone calls. 

I go to party and have no idea what happens between then and when I get home, other than that ds15 is in charge.  🙂  When I got home, my husband had just returned from work, dd13 had just returned from her hike, the baby was up from his nap, my dd7 and ds6 were playing with neighbors at our house, ds15 was out with his learning partner, and ds9 is selling cookies. 

Right after I get home, my husband said he needed to run to the store for a few items, so I accompanied him in order to have some time together.  In the meantime, my ds9 who was selling the cookies was passing the home of some new neighbors.  I met the mother a week ago and told him they had a boy his age.  He decided to knock on the door and introduce himself, was warmly welcomed in and eventually invited to stay for their dinner barbeque.  He ran back to get permission (which I gave, since I really like the mom).  When he came back to their home, the visiting friend of the 11 year old sister in the new family looked at him and told him he reminded her of a girl she knew from sleep away camp.   He asked what the name of the girl she reminded him was – and when he heard it, he said, “That’s my sister!”  What a small world – the new neighbor lived in a different city, as did her friend, but had been in the same camp in NY as my daughters.  The camp is huge, and just being there doesn’t mean you know most of people there – actually, it’s exactly the opposite, you don’t know most of the people.  However, the new neighbor’s daughter was in my daughter’s co-bunk, and her visiting friend was in the same bunk as dd12.  So then they invited her for the bbq, to which I also agreed. 

By this time, I was back with dh, ate a quick dinner, and went out to a lecture by a community rabbi to mark 30 days since the time my friend’s 16 year old son was killed in a car accident.  On the way there, I stopped at the new neighbor to invite her for lunch next Saturday (I didn’t have a phone number for her).  She glowingly tells me how wonderful my son is and how you can always tell which kids are homeschooled because their middos/character are so good. 

After the talk, which deserves its own post but I just can’t make time to do it justice, I spoke to a number of the other people there, and then privately to the rabbi who spoke.   That was an interesting conversation; at times like these I feel someone has to be willing to suggest ideas that might be helpful which aren’t mainstream, and because I look mainstream (‘so normal’, I’ve often been told, lol) and my kids have been successful homeschooling, I feel that it’s kind of my responsibility to raise concerns with the powers that be if I have the opportunity to do so.  Not that they’re ready to hear it, but something only sounds radical the first bunch of times it’s suggested, right?

Then I spoke for quite a while with my friend, whose son it was who was killed.  She introduced me to the mother of the boy who was driving the car (who walked away from the accident that killed her son), whom she happened to be speaking with when I came over (not that she introduced her as such, I figured it out). 

When I got home late that night, I felt like I had hardly spent any time with the kids.  I hadn’t, hardly.  If it wasn’t for the knowledge that a day so much away from them is the exception, and I’d have the next day to be with them, I would have felt a sense of loss. 

(Now that I wrote all of this, I’m thinking how dull it all sounds….but that’s okay, since I’m not here to impress you and I said I’d share with you a typical busy but not stressful day. :))

Avivah