Winter's End

I've been absent from this space, and honestly, a bit overwhelmed of late. There's nothing big happening, but sometimes (or maybe a lot of the time) it's the little things just stacking up, that make a big thing, over time. It's the things I have to remember to buy, and to bring, and to send, that have me constantly going. It's the long hours Mr. Jones has worked, for what has seemed like forever. It's dinners pre-made, so I can throw them in after work, and the laundry that seems bigger with each month (the clothes are bigger now, and so very muddy). It's the backyard that needs a re-vamp and the house that's never clean, and the light switches that need rewiring. It's the birthday party that needs planning and the redecorating that we think about, but never make progress on, weeks and months and years later. How long has it been since we've seen some of our friends? Most of all, it's the need for a break, that doesn't ever come. The level of activity is constant. Life with a 2 and 3 year-old is non-stop, and the exhaustion is very real.

  

At the center of choas are these glowing figures: two girls who are having a blast. "Did you have a good day?" I ask Penny when I pick her up from pre-school. "Of course, I had a good day," she says, and I smile at the sassiness of it. How silly of me to think her days would be anything but great. 

It's getting warmer and slightly less wet. I can't wait until we're in a city park for the greater part of so many coming days. They are friends now, these sisters. They run and jump together, they hold hands up the stairs. They "talk", and I can't tell you how lovely it is to see, and how funny it is to hear. For each day that we're tired, we know now that these years are going fast, and soon we'll have children, not toddlers. I hear it gets easier, and yet I'll be so, so sad to see it go.