A Quiet House

Our house is a lot of things this week, but most of all....it's quiet.  It was almost painfully quiet the first morning I woke up to Ellie not being around.  I missed her snuggles in our bed, her knock on the bathroom door to greet me when I get out of the shower, her sweet voice, her playing with Darla and Daddy while I get ready, and her positive energy first thing in the morning.  I miss reading to her, singing with her, playing with her, and chatting with her about anything and everything.  When I notice her car seat is gone from the back seat of my car, my heart seems to skip a beat.

Ellie is one lucky little lady to be spending the week at Nana and Papa Jay's house.  My mom and I wanted to find a time this summer for Ellie to go visit and get to spend some quality time with them.  So, with one of the therapists at Parkwest Hospital being on vacation this week, it was a great week for me to pick up some extra days at work (and not have to spend a fortune on child care.)

Oh how I miss my Ellie.  I can't even type that without tearing up.  Her absence is such a heavy void for me...on the other hand, it's such a pleasure to share her with my mom and Jay and allow the 3 of them to spend special time together.  Let's face it, it's just not the same with Mommy and Daddy there.

Growing up, I spent a TON of time going up to Virginia to visit my mom's family by myself.  Of course my family went together some too, but I just loved being up there and have so many fond memories of those trips.  In fact, when I think about growing up, those memories are some of the most vivid and most favorite ones from my early childhood.  There was (and still is) a Stuckey's convenience store that was the halfway meeting point where my mom would meet her dad,Goo-Goo as we so affectionately called him, or her brother, my Uncle Mike, to trade me off.  Uncle Mike was my best buddy for many years and spoiled me rotten!  My favorite color was green, just because that was Uncle Mike's favorite color.  I would ride all over town (and the surrounding small towns in Southwest VA) visiting my great aunts and uncles and extended family of cousins with my Goo-Goo.  I visited Berry Homes Center often, my family's hardware store, and I spent lots of time hanging out at Goo-Goo's jewelry store.  I was obsessed with playing cars and took them with me wherever we went.  I drew maps, stores, and entire towns for my cars to explore.  Goo-Goo and my grandmother "Betty", as we called her, lived in a really neat contemporary 5-story home (just a few rooms on each floor) that Goo-Goo (and his crew) built.  He built several houses in that neighborhood, Country Club Estates, and I was always such a proud granddaughter...he was such a smart man who seemed to be a jack of so many trades.  Their house was in the very back of the neighborhood at the end of the cul-de-sac.  On our way home from our many outings and adventures, Goo-Goo would always let me slide over to his lap and "drive" home.  That was just about the best thing imaginable for a little girl whose favorite activity was the play "cars".  I seem to remember every inch of that house and wish it was still in our family for me to go back and visit.  I was fascinated by the laundry chute, and there were so many little nooks and crannies and closets with low, slanted ceilings to get creative in and let our imaginations run wild.  A lot of my most "creative" and naughty memories include my sister Ashley and our cousin Johnia.  The house had a work-out room with that fake astro turf grass floor full of stuff we weren't supposed to mess with...a hot tub, exercise equipment, a stereo, and a tanning bed.  We oftentimes got caught playing in there!  One of my favorite mischievous moments was when Goo-Goo was out one day, and Betty was distracted watching her afternoon soaps in her chair.  Ashley, Johnia, and I piled up every couch cushion and pillow from the main floor living room, climbed over the railing in the 5th floor gallery, and jumped down to our pillow pile below.  I seriously cannot believed we did that!  I would be terrified to do that now!!!  Betty made the best cinnamon toast for breakfast, and I ate way too much canned fruit cocktail and Vienna sausages (I loved it at the time but wow, so gross!)  We had the best bubble baths playing with our foam blocks that stuck all over the sides of their big Jacuzzi tub.  It was just the little things that I loved and that made such special memories.  I am so grateful for the time I had with my moms parents when I was little.  Unfortunately, they (along with several of my mom's other close family members) left this world far too young, but I will always cherish the precious time I spent with them.  I am thankful my mom "shared" me with them, and I want nothing less for my children.

I also spent a lot of special time with my dad's parents, Ma-Maw and Pa-Paw, who I got to see even more often because they lived in town.  We baked cookies with Ma-Maw standing on stools in her galley kitchen with the mustard-colored checked floor and explored their beautiful yard with Pa-Paw collecting acorns and catching lightning bugs in our night light cage.  I loved listening to Ma-Maw's stories about growing up as the oldest in a big family of 7 children.  We snacked on these chocolate fudge cookies with colored marshmallows throughout and seasoned oyster crackers.  I loved listening to records sitting in the floor of their guest bedroom and playing with old wooden toys that my dad and his brothers had as kids (because Ma-Maw certainly kept everything!)  I would sneak into the garage and play in Pa-Paw's car, sometimes setting off lights that no one knew how to turn off, oops!  Ashley and I would take baths with our cousins Andy and Jay sharing about 2 inches of water, haha!  Oh, the memories :)

So, as hard as it is to be away from Ellie this week, I have such joy in carrying on this tradition with her.  Now, I don't know that I will want to share her as often...my mom lives a little further away (for now anyway), and she has a pretty crazy work schedule that limits her somewhat with her time.  I know her and Jay are making sacrifices and special arrangements to make this week with Ellie possible, and I am so thankful they cherish time with her enough to make this a priority, too.  Grandparents have so much to offer, and I want our kids to enjoy every benefit of sharing life with and learning from each of them.

It has been a little bit of a treat to sleep a few minutes later, not worry about packing her lunch, or cleaning up as much.  To be perfectly honest though, I can't wait to have all of those mommy duties back on Friday.  But in the meantime, I am enjoying the extra down time in the evenings and more quality time with with my hubby.  Heck, his car has been in the shop, so he's been chauffeuring me to work and everything!  It's hard to remember what we did with all of this time before we had Ellie!!  We went out to a fun dinner tonight, and I went to Costco all my myself (and made it in and out in 25 minutes!)  Now Michael is at Bible study, and I'm actually caught up on my chores and had time to sit down and blog for the first time in over 4 months, ha!  Amazing!!!

Until Friday comes, the texts, phone calls, pictures, videos, and face timing are getting me through the days!  It really is fun to be on the other side of all of that communication, and it's so fun to watch them enjoying each other!!!!  Tonight, I am thanking God for my 4 wonderful grandparents, and I am equally thankful for all of Ellie's grandparents!