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Spelunking

We went spelunking today. It's not as exciting as you think. Around here, spelunking means diving under beds and sofas and removing the accumulated clutter. Three motherships (or laundry baskets to the uninitiated) full. The cleaning frenzy was brought on by the company that we will be having at the end of the week. Not that they will ever look in the laundry closet or under the bathroom sink, mind you. But I will have peace of mind knowing that all is where it belongs.

Stuart's parents are coming for a long weekend. Our first house guests in over a year! It's hard being so far away from family. A supply of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins was only eight hours away when we were in Rhode Island. The Ocean State is a fun place to vacation and so everyone came. We six (for we were not yet seven) slept in our unfinished attic for six months straight one year. The two bedrooms below were filled with one family after another. I miss them.

The rhythm of our routine will change when Grandma Carole and Grandpa Tom get here. We will stop doing and just be for a few days. We will pull out Quiddler and play every evening. John will probably win. He's a great speller. Grandpa Tom will give him a run for his money. He's a horrible speller but he plays a great game of strategy. We will make iced cappuccinos...which I have perfected. We will walk around the block and sit around the table long after the meal is over. Grandma Carole will mind the heat. She loves winter and snow. We have not seen snow in four years. But there is the pool and the air conditioning so there is comfort to be found here in the deep south.

For now though, our rhythm is one of frenzy. Our house is always picked up and rarely clean. Except for the bathrooms. An archeologist could come in and glance at our shelves and say, "Hmm...these artifacts have seen two pollen seasons." And he would be right. I don't trip over dust so I don't dust...unless we are having company. We have thrown out piles of old magazines and washed bedding. We found a deer bone under my bed. (Must have been Faith's.) Tomorrow we will wash a few windows and shop for "company food." If I cannot reach the mahogany colored fan that has turned light gray with dust I will turn it on high and no one will know that it is dusty. And then we will wait for when they pull up with Stuart on Friday. And there will be hugs and stories and memories made. I can't wait.
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Comments

ocean mommy said…
Kate, your house sounds like mine this week! Have a great visit.
Hug those precious kids for me.
May 24, 2007 at 10:19 AM
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