My house is bursting at the seams. Each night the sink mysteriously fills with dishes. The dishwasher runs non-stop as do the washer and dryer. Items mysteriously move from room to room and I trip over unfamiliar shoes. Paper towels and toilet paper evaporate from their rolls and there’s seldom a clean, dry towel to be found. The trash can is quietly but determinedly overflowing in the cupboard. The driveway and the lawn are parking lots for various cars (some familiar, some not) which appear and disappear through the day and night. Food vanishes at a jaw-dropping rate.

We have a houseful right now. Connor has graduated but is temporarily here with his girlfriend and their cat. My in-laws  (and their dog) came to see him graduate and are staying for a nice, long visit. (Their RV rests in our driveway parking lot.) Lydia has finished her first year of college and returned on Saturday from a two-week singing tour in Ireland and England. On Monday, Adeline returned after 5 months in England.  I haven’t had all three of them together since Christmas!  Their friends stop by to visit and add to the bubbling mix of energy. (Nobody warns you that you’ll miss your kids’ friends almost as much as you miss your kids!) So, my children are all finally at home and these spinning last-days-of-school won’t slow down enough to allow me to simply wallow in sheer enjoyment.

So, at the end of these long, busy days, I lie in bed at night and listen. Doors shut, footsteps lightly run up the stairs, a car door slams. Someone walks by, singing softly. The hum of conversations and bursts of laughter rise and fall from adjacent rooms. I hug these sounds close to me and wrap them around me like a blanket. My house is bursting at the seams and my heart is overflowing. I drift into sleep. Smiling.