Empty House...Thank God

All of my family and their friends are gone as of yesterday. Both parents, my sister and their visitors from New Jersey. Almost three weeks of my folks capped by a rapid-fire weekend visit from my baby sis to do wedding stuff was...well.

Okay, some of the time it was amazing, full of my mother's incredible food and my father's intelligent conversation and affection all around. Other times it was fraught with the kind of awkward jockeying for status that happens between adults and their adult children, complete with spouse to round out the shifting dynamic. In a situation like that, there isn't much you can do other than hold on. I'm a middle child, an introvert and a natural peacemaker, so I spent a lot of time--way too much time, honestly--trying to make sure everyone was happy or, at least, not upset with someone else. This only drove me to tears once, so not a bad job overall.

But now it's time for me to have things the way I like them again, which is essentially being by myself a lot of the time, and with my man the rest of the time. No more parties, no more drinking (our fridge is full of alcohol, which I drink veeery slowly) no more running around to various appointments and offering up my car and my time and my space. I'm so relaxed, it's blissful. I love people and my family and my friends, but I am, at heart, happiest in the quiet by myself, or nearly so.

Now I can get to writing, plotting, finishing The Academy, and mentally preparing myself for next weekend's Martial Blade Concepts camp. Three days of knife fighting practice, yay! My man and I will be car camping, because we're classy that way. More story tomorrow, darlins.

I hope whatever you're up to, you can take some time to satisfy yourself. Sometimes its easy to forget your own wants in the press of handling other people's expectations, but you're important too.