Hello Silence, My Old Friend...

Okay...it's time to breath. The 8 month old, the 4 year old, the 29 year old, AND the 47 year old are now all tucked in and happily on their ways to never-never land for the night. My house is upside down, the dishes are screaming to be washed, I'm exhausted, and all I want to do is listen to the wind rattle the old storm windows and the hum of the hot water heater as it fills for the one thousandth time today. For those of you who don't know, my daughter Janelle (the 29 year old), her 4 year old son Cj, and her 8 month old daughter Jaden McKenzie, are her for a 4 (or 5, or 6, or 7, or....) day visit. How can you love someone so much and miss them until your heart feels as if it will break in two and after they are here 24 hours think, "Aren't you ready to leave yet??????"
Lydia - for what it is worth - NO age is too young, in my opinion! But, I have no doubt the Wise And Sage B will definitely put in her 2 cents worth. (Just between you and I, I happen to think her 2 cents is priceless, but don't tell her, as it will only go to her head.)
I'm glad to hear the visit went well (any situation that creates a positive energy in any form should be considered a GOOD thing!) and obviously the surgery was a success. Ah...one of the hardest life lessons of all - parents are just people who had kids. Imagine that! I sometimes feel bad that I didn't realize this until my mother died. She has been gone a long time and sometimes I wish I had told her it was okay to just be a person for a while. I'm sure where she is now she knows that, along with lots of other things I should have/could have/would have said. Most of all, now that I am a "Nana," I wish I could share all this joy, frustration, exhilaration, exasperation, with her.
Lydia, I know you probably mentioned this before, but what part of Kansas? (Forgive the tired old brain cell - it is Brandy's turn to use it and I am at a loss to remember more than my first name tonight!) I'd love to meet you and have a cup of Java while you are in the Sunflower state.
I have much more to ramble about, but I'm just too damned tired to type! We are up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for another day filled with adventures of the 4 year old kind. (Which are much better than the grown-up kind!!)