You know that feeling you get when most of your family has been out of the house for the day but the hour is approaching when they should all return and you hear the sound of the car rumbling into the garage, distant words being spoken as car doors open, then slam shut, footsteps nearing the kitchen door and then their noise spills into the house unlike the way something liquid dribbles quietly down the back side of the refrigerator when it was accidentally upturned, and you know you should have made more of the most of your time alone but didn’t because you couldn’t decide whether or not to shower, read a book, do the laundry, mop a floor, clean out that closet, or go shopping and so you didn’t do any of those things and now you won’t get another chance to be home alone for at least seven months but you are happy that your people have returned?! I’m on month six and a half.
Meanwhile, I continue my side gig as chauffeur, though my routes are always the same and the customers never pay. Besides dropping off and picking up Ellie from Chick-fil-A every other hour, she and Anna attend a summer sand volleyball camp twice a week where they are learning how to get sand all over their bodies and into the car and there’s not even a beach involved in this for me. I do get to read my book uninterrupted, but that’s because I haven’t brought the noise boys with us to the courts yet.
Speaking of the little boys, they’ve picked up a side gig of landscaping for the neighbors. While the jobs are not terribly tough, it has been terribly hot and yard work is terribly boring when you are ten or eight and so though there are two of them, they are doing the work of half a person. The neighbors have been either incredibly generous in giving them payment for these little jobs or insanely naive to be giving out hardly-earned cash.
Jake and Isaac maintain their main gig at the fast food establishment, though the restaurant will not have the pleasure of their presence much next month due to the hundreds of miles that will separate them when the boys go on vacation. In between hours of taking orders, bagging orders, looking for orders, handing out orders, or accepting payment for orders, our extrovert has enough stamina left for rollerblade hockey, basketball, and hang-outs with friends while our introvert has enough stamina left to go to bed.
Danny’s picked up a new and very uniquely niche side gig as a marine logger, where services include removal of logs stuck under boats during ripping currents and disposal of said logs (but not back into the water because he’s not an idiot). Once he finishes that job, he dons another hat that looks suspiciously like a captain’s cap and takes his vessel out to sea. Though his wife doesn’t mind planking on the dock while helping to jimmy the sodden plank out from under the boats, she much prefers her role as solar panel for the sailing vessel.
My side gig as suncatcher is really a labor of love. We all know marriage is built on compromise, communication, and contribution. Sitting where I can catch the rays means that Danny doesn’t have to suffer heat, hear me talk, or watch me steer the boat into a buoy. I bring a lot to this union.
It is nice to be on the receiving end of the chauffeuring and not fret about what I could be doing with my time. Since there is nowhere to go and nothing to do, getting out on the water is absolutely wonderful. And though the noise boys typically come too, I am happy about it!
