moonless comfort

Another year of homeschooling started this week. Much quieter than any other. I've made myself stop many habits to try and find a good routine. No more radio in the morning. That was a hard one to break, but I found I often got stuck in one part of the house because I didn't want to "miss" anything. Now I'm trying to get some chores and work done before we crack open books. This is when I feel the real emptiness of the house. The void of the twins departure. No Henley and Chalice visiting the house or stopping by the store. I'm trying to load the weekdays up for Jedd. Book club/bowling with another homeschooling family on Mondays. Music lessons on Wednesdays and co-op on Fridays. I feel peace with it all though. Annie and Emma are so happy about their places right now it would be terrible to begrudge them this joy. And I need to take advantage of this time because Jedd is being extra wonderful about letting me hug and smother him as he knows it's hard for me (and him too, if we're being truthful). Last night he and I walked the dog and it was pretty late and getting downright chilly. I had a giant shawl wrapped around my shoulders and his and we banged and hip-checked our way down to the river and around a few blocks trying to spot a star or two behind the cloud cover. Couldn't even spot the moon much less a star, but we had some good laughs and the darkness allowed a 13 year old boy to cuddle with his mom on a late night walk.