ahhh...the car rider line

the carpool line,
the pick-up line,
my little bit of heaven...

whatever you may call it, some days i positively live for it.



it's the only 45 minutes or so in the busy day that i have "to myself" where there is no laundry to be done, no house to straighten up, no snacks/meals to be fixed, no potty breaks to help with (although, there was that one time...but i'll spare you the details), no questions to answer or requests (demands?) to fulfill.



of course, this only really works if i have two sweetly slumbering childern in the backseat. and lately, my darling eme has not been so agreeable with the whole nap thing. but anyway, on a perfect day, both kiddos are asleep, i am listening to npr or something on cd (lately, tracy chapman, patty griffin, indigo girls, neko case, and ben harper), there is a route 44 diet coke close at hand, and i am stitching or making hexagons (and sometimes sketching + planning + jotting down ideas).

bliss, i tell you.
is that sad?
possibly.
oh how things change when you have kiddos! my love for them is boundless, but i am sure that you understand the need for quiet. time. alone.

some days, we leave the house really early so that i can be sure that em (who is so into showing me that she is independent, that i carefully and strategically pick my battles) will zonk out. she's starting to not be onboard with the whole "close your eyes and pretend to rest so that cate will, too" routine. i am not kidding when i say that i know every new development in the area, which houses are for sale, and which roads are often travelled by cyclists. one of my favorite stretches of road passes through swampy land with groves of cypress and oak on both sides. it was especially beautiful the other day.



a perfect little piece of storybook woods, albeit partially under a couple feet of water.

yesterday was one of the not-so-perfect days when neither eme nor cate fell asleep. so, i crossed my fingers and we pulled into the line to wait for lily.



eme and cate kept each other amused with a little super grover doll, a book of masks, and rice cakes. a "read between the lions" book on cd (chick-fil-a does have decent "prizes" in their kids' meals) replaced npr, but that was okay. i got to stitch for a bit, nobody was crying, and all was right in our world.



lily really does want to ride the bus, but there are so many reasons that we would rather she not. it may be selfish, but this precious time is one of those reasons.

maybe you don't sit in a car-rider line. maybe naptime is your precious time of the day. what do you do during those times when no one needs you?? and do you guard that time of the day like crazy?



i *need* this time. i really do. it makes me a better and more patient momma, i am almost surely convinced.