What a crazy twisty road I have been driving down for the last 6 or 7 months. Life was good, then my then my daughter moved back home. She brought with her a husband, a son, a daughter, a daughter, a son and a cat. And mayhem, and noise, and pouting, and screaming, and hatred, and emotions, and prepubescent tantrums, and autistic tantrums, and 6 year old tantrums, and 8 year old sass. I have had days of enough stubbornness to supply a mule farm for a lifetime.

Then there is the flipside

I love that my days are filled with these people in my home. I really like them. They are sweet and silly and joyous. They make me laugh, and giggle, and dance to a music that is not heard but felt.

To those days that are less than joyous, the screaming in each others faces, gouging fingernails into faces, spinning and stemming, meltdown over technology, fighting over movies kind of days, I think back to when the house was quiet and I lived alone, and the babygrands visited. I recall those days fondly, and I miss them a lot.

To those days that are marked with giggles and cuddles and reading, and playing I think back to when the house was quiet and I lived alone, and I recall those days as empty, holding a void that was dark and lonely.

So there we have the road I have been traveling. Ups and downs. Rights and lefts, Starts and stops.

in the end, I'm happy.