How Quiet The House

So often after we have visitors over, especially, the grandchildren, I write about how quiet the house is.  There is no childish laughter, no goofy games, no running after Papa--just the noise of the house.  The heat clicking on, the dishwasher, the washing machine.

 

Today we took down the remnants of Christmas and re-wound time to start the new year.  It was a quiet day--some football, TV and computer time, laundry and food, but most of all the day was quiet. 

 

Tomorrow, I start job hunting again with a vengeance.  It will be a year, mid January since I had a job and I hate that.   I feel like I am too old to be hired and too young to retire.  I feel like there is no place for me.  Re-invent yourself, is the advice on the job boards.  If I could do that, I would re-invent myself as a 30 year old white male with a masters degree. 

 

I spent some time on the computer today, deleting old photos and re-living the lives of our grandchildren through pictures over time.   It was a fun, yet sad exercise.  Like all parents and grandparents, I wish I could bottle up their youth and enjoy them forever as they learned to walk and talk.  "Don't grow," I tell Ben, but it is in vain.   He grows. 

 

I look forward to 2013.  All of the grandchildren will advance to the next year in their life and they will welcome that.  They will be "bigger."  Ben will lose his baby teeth, Sam will start to read.  Cole will start to crawl and then walk.   I don't look forward to being a year older, but to having a new beginning.  To mending fences, to working,  to enjoying the weather.  To enjoying the quiet of the house as peaceful and not as empty. 

 

How quiet the house?   Terribly.