And Life Resumes

We've been in Minnesota a little over two weeks. Well, technically, I have been here two weeks: Dave and the girls went to Illinois on Sunday for Dave's Grandmother's birthday, and they just returned tonight. I have had my head down with an insane focus on getting this house settled. I had this vision that they would come home and everything would be in its place. And this meant approximately one dozen trips to 4 separate Target stores, an afternoon on the seventh circle of hell also know as Ikea on a weekend while (slightly) hungover, several rounds of Diet Coke from the nearby Wallgreens, and many, many, many boxes opened.

Before all of that, we arrived. We closed on the house. The awesome, awesome house. We survived the movers putting boxes all willy nilly in the wrongest of wrong places. My nephew was born (welcome to the world, Oliver Jasper Duggan, we're so thrilled you're here. A photo would have been posted already if only I knew where the camera was.) My cousin Ryan turned 30 and most of our family descended from the coasts (and Chicago) to celebrate. We met some of our neighbors and discovered some of our local parks (yes, there are enough that we have not yet tackled them all.) We remembered the meaning of "muggy."

This week, here on my own, head down, insane focus, I have worked my butt of from breakfast and late into the night, trying to make a home for my family. It may be the busiest "break" I have ever had, and I have had many busy breaks. There has been much to report here, yet I broke from the blog, too. I noticed this afternoon, on my way home from the last trip to Target, that I have done all of this in silence. Even the drive from Boulder--the 18 hour drive with two small children--happened without the radio, or music, or any other entertainment. It is as if this has all been some kind of meditation. This afternoon, driving home in the heat and the traffic in my car without air conditioning, I suddenly remembered music, and turned on the radio, and tuned into the excellent MPR-supported radio station here that plays current music, and I prepared to let the chaos and the noise of my life return.

I was so very happy to see my kids, and my husband, when we all returned home.

Home!

Strange, strange, strange.