Meeting Ourselves Coming and Going

Do you ever feel that unseen forces are conspiring to keep you from doing what you need to do or being where you need to be? Lately, it seems as though a hundred things have cropped up to keep my family from spending any "down time" together. Sure, we may all be in the same place, but when we have time to catch our breath, we realize that while we may have been "together," we haven't really been together.

The weekend started with a birthday party Friday night. It was a lot of fun and we got to hang with many of our friends, but you know how males and females tend to segregate themselves; I probably didn't speak twenty words to Randy while we were there, and trust me, we weren't even having a row!

Side note: While at the party, Sawyer either took a spill or got clocked by someone while in one of those bouncy-house thingamajigs, and he split his lip open--again. I'm sure those who were in earshot of me were appalled at my lack of concern when they relayed the news that Sawyer was bleeding, but for crying out loud, when Sawyer and Tyler play together for more than five minutes, blood is ALWAYS involved. I am SO used to it by now. I took a couple of pictures of THIS week's fat lip but it doesn't show up too well. It's that little red, rounded lump on his lower lip.

 

 

After Randy got the blood cleaned up--I, after all, was in the middle of a conversation and couldn't be bothered by a split lip - :-)--the kids all changed into swimsuits and went for a dip in the hot tub. There was also a Slip 'n Slide set up on the grass right outside the hot tub, so many of the kids vacillated between slipping and dipping. Some of the parents finally put a stop to that after a trail of mud appeared on the deck. Anyway, Sawyer had gotten out of the hot tub for some reason--I really don't remember but I think maybe he had gone to get something to drink--and on the way back we all heard this wet "slap" on the pavement (the deck is concrete). His feet had slipped right out from under him on the muddy walkway. This time there were tears and--ta da!--I actually showed some compassion! Ha ha! He only cried for a sec but I ended up taking him inside to the bathroom because his entire right side was covered in mud and grass. When he caught sight of himself in the mirror he actually laughed at the mud caked in his hair and said, "Well, THAT'S not good!"

On Saturday morning, Randy took Tyler and Darcy to play tennis while I worked out, Sawyer slept in and Peyton got ready to attend another birthday party for her friend Bella. Bella's parents picked Peyton up just minutes before Randy and the kids got home, and I gave Darcy a minute to get cleaned up and then we hit the road heading for Party City to pick up supplies for her birthday party later this month. We grabbed a quick lunch and hit Kohl's for a few minutes, then headed home, whereupon Randy, Tyler, Darcy and Sawyer went for a bike ride while I did laundry and waited for Peyton to get home. In the meantime, I received an e-mail notification that a book I'd put on hold at the library was waiting for me, so as soon as everybody wheeled into the driveway I made preparations to run and pick my book up. I was detained for a few moments while I helped Tyler blow up water balloons--the kids had a water balloon fight while I was gone--but I finally headed out around 4:15, calling, "I'll be right back!" An hour later, I finally dragged myself away from the library, my second home.

After a quick dinner came showers and it was then that it hit me--we had been running around all day and many of the things we did were beneficial, recreational, relaxing, etc., but I looked at Randy and said, "We haven't spent any time together today!" Saturdays--a blessing and a curse.