Last night, it seemed like no one was ever going to go to sleep. Some of them were watching the Olympics; Clare and Liam were looking through a Sister Wendy art book; Sean was talking to a friend on the phone, and then even though he went to bed, he couldn’t sleep. Paddy had that exhausted hectic look that little fry get when they are up too late. Then Kieron was awake during the night, apparently dealing with some GI issues that appear to be going through the family, and is now still fast asleep.
Sean and I were up at half past six, so Sean could make sure he was ready for the school bus. He checked his backpack about 30 times, told me how tired he was, and then at slightly after 7 he and Kevin made their way through the woods below our house to the bus stop. Shortly afterwards, Kevin appeared again and said he had just watched a child of his board the yellow bus for the first time in history ;-). It is strange to think that this is simply normal life to many people; that it could very well be our 5 year old that was boarding the bus, not our 15 year old. Very odd to think that in normal American circumstances, all the seven kids would be off at their respective places by this hour. Kevin would be gone, not in his home office, under those typical circumstances. It is just strange to reflect for a moment on what “ordinary life” looks like and how different it might have been.
Nothing so peaceful as a 5 year old who was up at midnight the night before.
Sean and Kevin on a hike during our vacation
