5 minutes after the kids got home

This is where the kids get clean.

This is where they get dirty again.

This is where I say to Emry for the thousandth time, “No drinking the bath water” in tones either patient or not-at-all patient, depending on the day.

This is where I cook.

This is where I stand, checking email on my phone, or looking out at the hummingbird, checking whether she is in her nest or whether she has taken herself off for a meal. She is never gone long.

This is where spring happens.

This is where salamanders live, where birds hop along the mossy, pebbled concrete, where eggs get sat on, where caterpillars creep.

This is where we put the large plastic Bat-cave, on permanent loan from our neighbors.

This is where the hot tub will go.

This is where dreams come alive.

This is where dreams slumber.

This is where “my sheet smells like Emry’s butt!” Elan shrieked at 8:55 p.m. I put my nose in the vicinity. I live dangerously like that.

This is where I put a beach towel over the area.

This is where I meant to leave Justina a note asking her to switch this set of clean sheets out for the ones in the dryer.

This is where clutter accumulates.

And here.

And here.

Here too.

This is where I sit and stare out at the lettuce bursting out of the garden box on the deck, then back at the computer screen again.

This is where I ice my knee.

This is where I wish I could go to Zumba tonight.

This is where I feel a little sorry for myself.

This is where we read Little House on the Prairie. We are on Chapter 25. Elan is 90% into it. Emry is mostly trying to get on our nerves.

This is where I lose my temper.

And here.

Here too.

This is where I say for the hundredth time, “It is not my responsibility to get you to school on time. It is your responsibility to get you to school on time.” And then I bust my butt to get him to school on time.

This is where I listen.

This is where I’m distracted.

This is where I try to multi-task too much, and everyone ends up frustrated.

This is where I check-check-check things off my list, get a little hit of productivity feel-good.

This is where I get overwhelmed, sit on the stairs, and want to cry.

This is where I put myself into hot water, because hot water nearly always helps fix anything. 99.5% guaranteed.

This is where I drop into the hammock, steal time to gaze up at the maple tree and the blue sky beyond, then get up and head inside once again.