Thursday, October 23, 2008

No Matter Where You Roam...

Randy has been working like crazy lately. The company he works for has been in “crunch” mode. That’s when you have a deadline and you stay at the office until it’s finished, pretty much. So the last two weeks he’s worked 10am to midnight and sometimes even later.

Now he and I sat down a couple of months ago and talked all this out. He knew this was probably coming, but we can do anything for 2 months.

We were travelling along just fine. Randy was free on the weekends so we made sure we maximized our time. The last three weekends, however, he’s had to go into work. This last weekend he practically lived there.

The deadline was this past Monday, so for better or for worse, the product was shipped. Randy was free to take the rest of this week off, so I’ve had him home all this week. He’s gotten to go to the dentist and even get a haircut!

We went to the kids’ school yesterday to eat lunch with them. They have back to back lunches, so they each had a turn with mom and dad. I ran into Graham’s teacher on the way out and we discussed his “signature” that he received for not turning in his homework. She said that Tuesday he didn’t bring his math book back to school so she had assigned him 5 extra pages of work (I know, Pam).

She also told me that Graham melted into a pile of tears right there in the middle of class. In front of soccer buddies and cute little girl that sits next to him that he’s had a bit of a crush on and everything. He cried and said, “But my dad is home! If I have to do all this work I won’t get to play with him!” The teacher felt bad for him and let him off…this time.

Part of me is thinking “well played young Jedi, well played”. But the look on his face when he gets home and his dad is there has been priceless. He runs in the house and whooshes past me with a “hi-mom-where’s-Dad-is-he-still-here-can-you-get-me-a-snack?”

Randy and I always try to make sure that when we’re with our kids, we’re with our kids. I’m so grateful that I have a family that loves to be together…that needs to be together. My prayer is that I always have a home that they can’t wait to get back to. My mom had a sign in our house when I was growing up that said "No matter where you may roam, the best part is coming home."

Graham was sitting on the couch with me the other day and wouldn’t stop hugging and kissing on me. He’s a lovin’ kid and sometimes it gets to be a little much. He wouldn’t detach from me so finally I had to say “okay, that’s enough.” He very wisely got in my face and said “enjoy it now, Mom, this isn’t going to last forever.”

I know. I know all to well.