This is Too Quiet

My wife and I had our every-other-month date night this weekend. We have some wonderful friends that we swap kid-sitting with so we can take a night off of parenting to spend some time with each other. Now this may sound a little strange, but you just imagine trying to keep your sanity while four independent souls rush from crisis to crisis every day. So anyway, this was our weekend to have some time to ourselves and right from the moment I arrived home something very strange occurred.

Normally I find myself thinking or saying, "Can we all just be a little quieter?" Actually to be a little more precise, "Stop talking so LOUD!" When I came through the door I found myself preparing for the onslaught of the little ones all talking at once and swarming about me in a ceremonial-like frenzy, which is their way of saying welcome home. (I feel like superdad every time.) Of course as I proceeded throughout the house there was nothing but silence. Almost an eerie-like silence. When I found my wife we both said, "Wow, it's so quiet." Almost like, hey something is wrong here. But the whole point of the date night is to achieve this momentary bliss. And that is what it seems like when there are no little shoes to tie, or hair to comb, or fights to break up, and especially no diaper duty!!!

But you know, for all the demands in a parent's life, I must say when my children are gone for a little while that I miss them so much so fast. After all, their demands prove that we are vital to their well being, and if you really think about it they give so much more than they could ever take. So, all you parents out there that wish you could just transport to some other existence for just a little while, my guess is that it wouldn't take long before you would say, "This is too quiet."