Herding Is Exercise Too

I have too much to say. All the thoughts, racing from my brain to my fingers, are crashing into each other. It's causing quite the traffic jam. The kids are to-ing and fro-ing, interrupting me (and each other) constantly. I had a crazy day (Monday? Tuesday?) where I was adding and subtracting kids to/from the mix. I think I averaged 5 kids the whole time but it was a different group of 5 every hour! The interaction is frenetic but good natured. The pace is hectic but jolly. I want to store up these feelings, sights, and sounds to last me through the long, quiet summer. Vivian (my bike) stands patiently at the end of my bed not begrudging me a week of inattention to her. She knows I'm enjoying exactly what I should be: the squeals of delight as my daughter and her four best friends dive into a "monster bucket" from Ben & Jerry's (25 scoops!), the sweet (and unending) questions from my 9-year old as we plant herbs, the youtube videos my middle guy and his best friend have to show me right now every ten minutes, the pride of our oldest as he tells me about his good grades (his first academic success ever thanks to a great alternative school), and the hours spent listening to/talking about metal with my red-headed, almost 16 year old - where words like crossover thrash, deathcore, and goregrind figure prominently. It is amazing to me how completely different my children all are from each other and yet, how well they get along with each other and each other's friends! I am incredibly grateful that they share so much of themselves with me willingly. (But shhhhhh, don't tell anyone how much my kids talk to me. I'd hate for them to get their official 'sullen teen' status taken away.) I'm not sure if I'll get to post again before the diaspora on Friday - so I hope everyone's hanging loose and keeping cool.