Noise

The piles of dirty laundry on my bedroom floor. And the clean clothes not yet in drawers and closets.

A messy basement that needs to be cleaned for a remodel.

A remodel!

Bills that need to be paid.

Trips to Spartanburg and NYC and Union City and Gloucester and Pune. 

Missed Wax Museum exhibits. 

Searches online for "Naked Womin"

A not so great outlook on an OCD diagnosis

Baseball and softball and end of school and standardized tests and work projects and spelling tests and muffins for mom and plays and concerts and parties and field trips and teacher appreciation week and surveys and teacher changes and not enough steps on my FitBit ever and too many calories and carbs consumed and and and...

Noise. It's all noise and it's really, really, really loud. And today I tried to turn it off. I shut off the radio on my way to work and on my way home. And I prayed for quiet. And noticed the little calves in the field and I hate cows but those calves in the field are ridiculously cute. And I didn't know if it was working because it still seemed really loud. 

And then softball practice was miraculously cancelled. And the kids helped Dave make Chicken Parmesan. And Ava and Max worked together to set the table and get us drinks and serve us. And as we started eating Abby suggested we all say two of our favorite things of the day, and family was a part of each and every one of theirs. A different family member who helped them, or they had fun with, or who made them laugh. And we ate at the way too fancy dinner table, and we drank too much wine for a Tuesday night and we sat and told stupid jokes and danced stupid dances and got foot massages under the table (really!). And then it was just me and Max and he did this...

Seriously. I have no idea if the dishes are clean or not, but I really didn't care.  If you do, I suggest you don't come eat with us for a couple of weeks until the dishes cycle back through and get washed again. He voluntarily got up and washed them and I dried and we cleaned the kitchen together and it took twice as long but felt like half as much.

And even though the dishes were clanking and the music was playing and the dog was whining for food and the iPad was playing, there was suddenly only quiet. And no noise at all.