and i can hear a pin drop...

I'm alone

now that the kids are down south for their summer camp counselor jobs

and

john's on his second week at his new job

and

it feels a little odd

~~

not odd

 in a bad way 

~~

surprisingly

odd 

in a good way

like a 

"type of cleansing" 

way

~~

maybe we all need to be on our own every now and then 

to really appreciate the breathing bodies of our loved ones

~~

maybe we all need to eat our meals alone

to really appreciate an occasional burp at the dinner table

~~

maybe we all need to sleep in a bed where the sheets in the morning barely looked touched

to really appreciate messy wrinkled sheets from nights of togetherness

~~

maybe we all need to spend a day taking photos with nobody to share them with

to really appreciate opinions that differ from our own

~~

maybe you don't 

and

 I didn't think I did either

but I do

so I'm embracing this time of my life with everything I have

to really appreciate 

the woman and wife and mom that I am

and

the woman and wife and mom

I

am still becoming

*