drinking from my saucer...

Shoot! Our bathroom is completely torn apart...again! We had it remodeled last August. The shower started to leak, so the contractor came and tore it apart, patched it up, and left us happy with running water to wash our hair. Then, about two months later, the shower started to leak again. We called the contractor. Then we called the contractor again. Then we called the contractor for the for the third, 17th, 23rd, and 42nd time. Months later, he came out, ripped up the floor, ripped off the bathroom door, ripped off the shower door, ripped off the tile on the bottom half of the shower, and went hunting for a week.

I should be irritated, right? Nah! I just packed the car and drove up north to stay with my kids for ten days. I played with my daughter and her three little boys. I played with my first born son and his boy. I played with my second born son. We went shopping and to football practices and soccer games, made Chandi's witch's hat, and went to see "Mamma Mia". We canned peaches and grape juice and ate stuffed zucchini and crab soup. We tucked sweet children into bed and were rewarded with baby squeezes around our necks. We fought with the 6th grader about getting his homework done, and saw a zillion cartwheels, jumps off a curb, and races on the scooter whenever we heard, "Gigi, mommy, watch this". We listened to the political pundits rant and contort the truth on both sides of the aisle, and held brilliant armchair debates with the best minds in the country. It was a delightful time!

I came home to a husband who missed me, made me dinner from produce he'd picked from the garden (and barbecued brats), helped me carry in groceries, and decorate our yard with fall leaves and pumpkins for my office party tomorrow night. He put me on the fourwheeler when he thought we'd worked long enough, and took me over to visit with neighbors who fed us wisdom and ice cream and begged us to stay a little longer.

Who needs the bathroom to be perfect when you're surrounded with people who can share your life in so many pleasing ways? At least the shower worked when I got home. Although the floor is still particle board waiting for matching tiles to be found, the wall still needs to be repainted, and floorboards replaced. But, I just don't seem to care when I stroll through the grove, and hear Wayne whistling in the yard, or answer the phone and a voice on the other end says, "Hi mom. I just called to talk. Can you hold on for a minute, Keaton wants to tell you he loves you." When evenings are spent with good friends who invited us over for a barbecue, or who giggle with me while sitting barefoot on the lawn, sharing stories, I know that my life is delicious indeed. I really am "drinking from my saucer, because my cup is running over".