Back to normal and it's way too quiet

My house is SO quiet. After a month and a half of guests, kids (yes, I still refer to my adult children and their friends as kids), and holiday festivities, my house is like one of those big, rundown mansions in the neighborhood where the kids dare one another to enter. It's dusty, messy, and during the day, very empty.

And it's eerily silent. Devoid of laughter and loud voices telling tales. Gone are the wafting scents rolling from my kitchen of baked goods. There are less laundry and fewer dishes in my dishwasher, and despite my full, way-to-small refrigerator, the foods crammed inside are not of the delicious holiday variety but of our day-to-day fare. In other words, boring.

I like Mondays. For me, it's the beginning. A clean slate to start over. If my life and my house are in disarray, I fear not because come Monday, I will be home alone with time on my hands to do what needs to be done to bring everything back into order. Sometimes I literally hold on to knowing Monday is coming, and it has never been more so than yesterday's Monday.

The last of the family disbanded on Saturday. Darcy returned to college and her adult-ish (her words, not mine because like me she chooses to keep the kid moniker) life of classes and work, and to hold my sorrow at bay, I held on to the solace of Monday. To the opportunity to begin the new year working on my resolutions and knocking my house and laundry into tiptop shape.

I just hadn't counted on the silence.

That's something one definitely has to get used to after a holiday of giggles, stories, warm bodies crowded on the couch, fights over television shows, foods from favorite eateries, and plans made to explore places.

Jason and I are trying. One day at a time.