The humidity that Houston is known for is here in full force this morning. I am sitting on the back porch with Potatoe. Pumpkine is laying in her beloved hammock; Storme is off on an adventure, and Trooper is snuggled up behind the curtain in my room.
Brainy Bird just walked by going from the garage apartment to the main house. He is going to be annoyed when he gets to Little Chirp’s room and finds little brother is still asleep. The two are headed to New Braunfels today, and Brainy Bird wants to get on the road as early as possible. Last night, they debated what time to wake up and leave this morning. Waking up at 8 AM and being on the road by 9 AM was a compromise. Brainy Bird had wanted to get up even earlier and leave even earlier. Naturally, the one doing the driving is the one wanting to get ahead of traffic.
When they get to New Braunfels, they will meet up with their Aunt Roni, Uncle Robert and Baby Huey at their house. They will all head over to my sister’s restaurant for the best Tex-Mex on planet Earth. In the late afternoon, Brainy Bird will head to church camp, and Little Chirp will have his aunt, uncle and cousin all to himself for the week. Almost every summer, the boys have gotten to stay for a week with Aunt Roni, and they love it.
Brainy Bird just walked back outside to double check that everything is ready to go with the car, while he waits on Little Chirp to get out of bed. I am wondering if Little Chirp will remember his suitcase, which is all packed, but sitting on the floor in Little Chirp’s room. All of Brainy Bird’s stuff has been packed and in the car for days now. The two definitely have different styles.
I will check my phone a hundred times between the time they leave and the time that they get to New Braunfels, and I will breath a sigh of relief once they get there. Like any parent, I worry when they are driving. I wonder how parents managed before cell phones. Either one of them can call me at any time, and there is an app on both of their phones that shows me exactly where they are. The app also records if Brainy Bird touches his phone while driving, and any excessive speed and sudden breaking while driving. Brainy Bird has a near perfect record on the app. Little Chirp loves to open the app and give us the rundown of our driving when we are waiting for dinner to finish cooking. This is super entertaining. In short, I could not have a safer teenage driver, but I still worry. That’s what us moms do.
Pumpkine and Storme have now joined me at the table on the back patio, so Potatoe has moved from being underneath the table to having his head in his lap. It will be just me and the fur kids for the next 10 days. I have a list of 91 things that I want to get done in the next 10 days, and then I am hoping to take July 1st to July 5th off. I am not sure what I will do with the time off or where we might go. We will see.
I had planned to leave myself today for a little road with Potatoe, but something major came up at work, and I cannot get the time off right now. I view having a ton of work to do as a good things. I am beyond grateful to not only have a job, but to have a job that I love.
Before the virus and the shutdown, I would have dreaded being alone for 10 days. I would have gone out to eat every night. The shutdown has changed me. I have discovered that home is my happy place. I went to the grocery store yesterday and got food for the 10 days. I have no plans of going anywhere. I will definitely miss the boys, but I will enjoy having the time to focus on work, my writing and to simply relax each evening.
It is the simple things in life…