Sunday evenings can be the best and the worst part of the whole week.
This past Sunday we returned home in the late afternoon from a weekend of camping with cousins. Seven kids under the age of 11 and six adults, three of whom are related as siblings or first cousins and their spouses. It was a wonderful two nights and two days of swimming, hiking, hammocks and eating around the fire. We were all gloriously tired from all the fun, late night glow stick dance parties and living in the fresh air.
However, returning on Sunday evening meant unpacking the camping gear and getting ready for the week ahead. First up was determining which food that was in cooler was salvageable, then getting the laundry into the wash for the girls to wear to day camp the next day. Of course, in the midst of all this getting the girls into the shower or bath to chip off three days worth of dirt from living and playing outside. And did we order the pizza yet for dinner?
As the girls were getting clean I began to pack up their lunches and gear for day camp on Monday. This week they would be attending an outdoor nature school camp so that also mean packing an extra duffle of clothes, rain gear, boots and shoes for the inevitable moment when one (or both) of the girls fell head first into the river or mud during the week.
Once the girls were clean, hair brushed and settled in to watch a movie I checked on the laundry, transferred the wash to the dryer and put in a new load. Then I checked to see if the dishwasher was done so I could unload it and start to pack away the camping gear. Then off to grab a shower before the pizza arrived.
Finally, everyone was clean and the pizza had arrived for dinner. Time to settle in on the couch to catch up on a favourite show with my husband before bedtime.
The quiet of a Sunday evening descended upon the house as we all were finally at rest before another week of summer fun.
Love the way your slice opens and closes with a moment of blissful relaxation. In between, it's a master class in multitasking! Thanks so much for writing and sharing today--we are glad you are here!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for reading. Glad to be joining in.
Delete~Beth
Welcome to our community! I loved reading about your re-entry to regular life. You are one busy mama! What fun to have a couple of days outside with family enjoying the natural world. You won't regret joining our community. I've been here for nine years and love every single connection and story.
ReplyDeleteSundays can be busy for me too! I love the way you have captured that here - jumping from event to event. In a few weeks when school begins my Sunday evenings will definitely be a lot like what you have described.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to know that someone else just started posting too! You describe quite clearly all that happens when you come home from a trip and the frenziness of it. So happy it ended with peace for you.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a wonderful opening line - full of potential and yet grounded firmly in the experiences of so many - this contradiction. There is also this sense of rushing from one event to the next which creates an energetic mood ending in the last line - the calm, fleeting, but a necessary acknowledgement that there was joy in the business (busyness?). Welcome here!!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to our writing community!
ReplyDeleteYour family camping vacation sounds heavenly. The unpacking from the trip... not so much! But, you reclaimed your Sunday n giht and that's amazing. Way to go!
Hooray for writing! I really appreciate some of your descriptions here - from chipping the dirt off your kids to the very same kids (potentially) falling in the mud the very next day... you've captured the chaos of the return even while suggesting that it was probably all worth it.
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