Alone mamma?
In the singular Mamma!
quiet as can be. Mamma, where are you!?!
I think that I almost forgot the sound made by a ticking clock. 

Being a stay at home mom to two rowdy boys ages five and three means that, while I can’t say never, I am almost never alone.  Alone is something I find I miss an awful lot.  At the end of most days, I have to grit my teeth together to keep from yelling “WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?!?” when I hear for what must to the one millionth time “Hey mamma!!”  Sometimes I just can’t grit my teeth quite hard enough and the words slip past anyway.

For me, this year, the end of summer and the beginning of fall have an entirely new and wonderous meaning.  Yeah, yeah the leaves will change beautiful colors and fall in dizzying spirals from the treetops.  The air will have a sense of crispness, much like the exact moment you sink your teeth into a freshly picked gravenstein apple.  The days shorten.  There is caramel corn to eat and pumpkins to carve. 

Pretty leaves and all that jazz.

Whatever.  This year, unlike any year in the past, both boys will have some sort of school to attend at the same time.  I will have a glorious three hours and thirty-five minutes (if I have the bus schedules figured out correctly).  All.To.Myself.  Alone, alone, alone!!  My inner child is currently turning cartwheels and leaping up into the air clicking her heels together.  There is only the tiniest bit of guilt surrounding this glorious feeling of joy but I can write about that another day.  For now I am embracing the thought of alone.