Parenting likes company

This weekend, Tad is away and I'm going it alone with my children.  I welcome the opportunity to be a solo parent for a few days, but it makes me think about how much parenting likes company.  And how a neighborhood like mine, makes company a built-in possibility.

Yesterday afternoon I was planning on just taking the kids home for dinner and putting them to bed.  But suddenly four neighborhood families were having an impromptu back yard dinner, everyone contributing an item or two for the meal.  The kids played in the back yard and four women sat at the table sipping beverages and talking about our own childhoods.

The kids all ate ice cream after dinner and I thought about how cool it is to live in a neighborhood that is a community. And how the last time I felt this comfortable and properly placed in Milwaukee, I left for the Peace Corps.  So I haven't felt this settled since the year 2000.  And I'm not going anywhere for a while.  So I can enjoy this sense of belonging I have.

After my children were tucked into bed and kissed and hugged and read and sung to, my friend Jen came over and we talked for three hours and drank tea.

I woke up this morning alone in my bed, window open and a thunderstorm crashing outside.  I got my kids to come into bed with me for all of two minutes before they begged to get up and watch TV, and a lovely two minutes it was.

Today I'll look for more company for Coen and Lucy and I and tomorrow my weekend of single parenthood will come to an end.

Liam, finishing off the ice cream.