Quiet Days

I spent a nice day with Andrew. We drove to The City, found out that the store we intended to patronize was closed for the day, but we went to a book store and a game shop, and generally had a good time. We ate lunch at an Egyptian restaurant. We shared a large appetizer platter: hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, tabouli, kibbe, fava beans, yogurt cucumber sauce, and flat bread. Oh...and mint tea. Andrew really enjoyed it, and it was fun to spend the day with him. There were things that I needed to do, but any of you with 18-year-old boys will understand how impossible it is to do anything other than say "of course" when those boys actually want to ask to spend a day with you. I mean, I know he wanted to practice driving in the city, but still, he wanted to practice with ME.

Olivia seems to be enjoying the peace and quiet here. All Mandy's girls comment on it. Our house seems to them to be remarkably drama-free. No one screams at anyone else. No fights break out. And we all use big words, even Brian who is just 13. I'm not sure what big words he uses, but I suppose they don't seem particularly big to me.

I was told I used a lot of big words when I was in high school.

And that was before I knew what "prevaricate," "perseverate" and "apoplectic" meant. Such good words, all.

But this is our boring New Year's Eve. No parties. No wild night. Just another evening of reading, watching TV, and doing dishes. I think it is good for Olivia to have such a stretch of quiet days. And it is good for us to notice how many of them we have, if that makes sense.

Even Evan is just hanging out tonight. He wants to know if not going out to party on New Year's is lame.