10:36pm. Less than an hour after a tag-team effort finally got the monster to sleep. Finally, just the two of us. The water in the sink is running full blast at a best effort to dissolve the remnants of a forgotten sippy cup, and there’s an enormous load of laundry in the washer because I got so behind, Jon threw in a load for me. And because he’s probably out of his favorite kind of underwear. Man, it was a long ass day. One that required a 30-minute call to my best friend so we could find the humor in the literal shit show in my life this afternoon. A long day evident by the cracked open adult beverage next to the sink as I tried to figure out why the dishwasher kept beeping and flashing “LC”. But standing at the sink, trying to finish the last of the nightly chores, it hit me: man, there’s no one else I’d rather stay up late and do laundry with.
Lately, as the days are getting longer, bedtimes are pushed back as we can finally enjoy the spring weather here in Michigan. Many nights I’ve been finishing prepping or cleaning up dinner as mini baseball games are carried out in the backyard. Or maybe it’s fish being caught in the pond. Or maybe I’m just witnessing the clean-up effort outside of ALL.THE.SHOES. Seriously, how many FEET do we have in this house?! No matter the activity, I find myself enjoying the view. Looking out at the kids playing with one another or tossing the ball with their dad. Sometimes I join them, or we head out on a walk, but truly I’m happy to wipe the counters or do the dishes with the sounds of laughter and the ball making contact wafting through the screen door.
Now don’t get me wrong. Many a days, this nightly routine serves as a reprieve from an otherwise difficult day. But good days or bad, these are the good ole days. The ones spent playing outside, riding bikes and tricycles along the sidewalk, or watching them wrestle on the trampoline. Eventually, there will be an absence of ride on cars, no toys to pick up before mowing the lawn, no trampoline to tie down during a storm. When we’re old and gray, sitting on our back porch, these days are the ones we’ll talk about.
And there’s no one else I’d rather rock on the porch and reminisce with. But for those following along - – he went to bed at 11:03pm. So predictable ;). After confirming he was out of underwear and if I could switch the laundry to the dryer, that would be nice. I’m not entirely sure I’ll have clean underwear in the morning, but I think I’ll keep him anyway.