single grandmotherhood

o.m.g.  I’m as tired and happy as I can be.  Jude is in the house for a week, coinciding with my second week at a new job.  Finding a place for him to be every day?  Touch and go.  Thank-yous aplenty to Betsy and Dave, Doug, Julie and Seth, and especially Kelly, who is taking not one, but two days off to keep the boy.  Everyone has taken a turn!  I’m so very grateful.  Getting him back at the end of the day?  Priceless!  It’s a delight to have him be part of my life again.  The house looks like a tornado went through it, if I may say so without diminishing the suffering of real tornado victims.  I’m washing dishes at ten PM because there’s NO MORE ROOM IN THE SINK!  That’s my antique house; we don’t have modern conveniences like a dishwasher.  Even though he makes me crazy more than once a day, I’m energized by having him around, too.  Today, for example:  up at 5:30, Jude loaded and outfitted and dropped off with Julie and Seth at 7:30.  On to work until 5 PM.  Home.  Grilled a big ole hunk of London broil that’s been marinating.  Cooked up some veggies from the CSA share (carrots, beets, fennel).  Went to Target because Jude was soooooo good the last couple days he deserved a new toy, and to procure necessities.  Home again to watch him pogo, ride bike, gave him a bath, read a book (we managed one page of I Spy), call mama and daddy, get clothes out for tomorrow, pack pool bag, brush teeth, night-night.  I went on to clean the house (vacuum up dog hair, put stuff away-I mean, there was stuff EVERYwhere, wash that pile of dishes, fold some clothes, get ready what I needed for work, tried and failed to find some paperwork, thought about what to wear tomorrow, took a shower, wrote this, read my book a little. It was a busy and lovely day.  And it rained!  We needed it so badly, and that means I don’t need to water in the morning, whoo-hoo.

So, all that to say, KUDOS to all you single moms out there, never mind, all mothers of little kids who want a minute for themselves, who love and nurture their children, have incredibly busy lives, and accomplish so much every day.  Day in and day out.  This has only been a week for me.  It’s made me grateful I wasn’t a single mother, and even more appreciative of my daughter.   It’s given me a new connection with my precious grandson.

I have one confession.  When I got up this morning, I wadded my hair up into a little bun with some pins, decided it looked good enough, and went to work without even dragging a comb through it.  Is that bad?