i HEAR this post loud and clear. it is so amazing that you wrote about needing some quiet these days. i was the girl that always needed noise. noise from the tv at night, an ipod, i’d even take the noise of a lawn mower outside and enjoy it! these days, i CRAVE quiet like i crave chocolate! so glad you had the post office trip.

my last trip to the post office had me checking out a hot guy as he walked by, resulting in me tripping over little beckham. i landed on my face, huge hole in jeans and a hurt that didn’t heal for a month. hot guy kept on walking, but stopped to look over his car before getting in and driving away. old, nice guy came running over, a smile on his face as he asked if i was okay, but knowing exactly why i tripped over my 3 year old. love that memory!

okay, i wrote a book on your comment.

love you.
and and margot talking to herself in the third person is so, so sweet. xo

I read your essay and found myself nodding in empathy the whole time: as Theo talked to me about pavers and I watched Sullivan out of the corner of my eye playing with small Lego parts….it just doesn’t end. I, like you, require crazy amounts of quiet time; nearly impossible to find these days. Like you, I also find that any little bit of it~however we come to find it~ is wonderfully restorative. That being said, my little ones are about to nap and I’m about to sit on the porch and drink an ice cold glass of sweet tea. Cheers, friend!

It is soooo hard to find quiet time. The other day when O. was napping, I put a show on for the other ladies and sat in my car in the driveway with a coffee. Silence.

So, I’m right there with you in a zombie-trance in line on an errand. Sometimes the bummer of a small town is all the folks you run into when solo at the store or post office. It makes me want to be a swimmer, taking time to do laps. The quiet; can you imagine?

xoxo

this is why i find myself not turning on any music or tv when the kids sleep. even the computer sometimes is too much . . . and why i sometimes make, i mean, ask politely, leeor to wear headphones bc he is always watching movies while he works and/or listening to music . . .

love these photos–such beauty! xo

Oh. My. Yes. Those blessed quiet moments. I remember when my own kids were small. I think it was after a birthday party, and a friend with two small children was over with her husband. She said to him that she was going to run to the co-op, and could be stay with the girls? Hubby said sure, no problem. My best friend, at that time a pregnant mom of one, looked at me, I looked at my husband, “Can we leave them with you?” He said sure, no problem, and three women hopped giddily into a car together, and rode in silence, marveling at the experience of going grocery shopping without negotiation or distraction. Such a simple, mundane task turned so meditative by the simple absence of kids and accoutrement.
My kids are 18 and 20, and that is such a clear, funny and precious memory. My grandson is 4. Occasionally, Grampa just says, “Go by yourself, honey. You need some quiet.” He remembers too.

Lily talks in 3rd person too and it cracks me up!
There is nothing like a lone ride in a car listeningn to talk radio – i might know someone who has driven around the block/parking lot a few times just to listen a little longer by herself. Not saying any names, but her name rhymes with Jelly. haha

So now I understand why I stopped listening to the radio in the car when I’m driving alone. I’ve always been the rock out type and I thought I was losing my edge. I think I’m just taking it all in…

Love this!

I feel like we are leading parallel lives, right up to the “divide and conquer” at bedtime. A solo trip to the grocery store through rush-hour traffic can be my current definition of serenity.

Quite time are a good thing…..however, I would give anything to listen to Margot talk in 3rd person everyday ALL day!

I totally love this post. And even when the kids ARE older, you will find you need those little breaks also!

My house is louder (in different ways), there are MORE questions asked (harder ones to answer so I have to think harder) and multiple other children who seem to congregate at the house too….

Which gives me the excuse “Oh, I have to run to the store REAL QUICK. I’m going to get you all ice cream!”

Then I sit back and enjoy a little mommy time out in the car….sans the phone!

Oh, I so can relate, Nici. Last night my husband went to the store, and after he was gone an hour (store is a 3 min drive from home), I peeped out the window and found him sitting in the car listening to a show on NPR. So, there are two of us at home…We also go to the bathroom when we don’t need to go but just need some time to think or read. And our 4-year old regularly to check in on us, “Daddy, WHAT are you doing in there?” Umm….getting a break from you?

Love it. I once had a quick break between kid-shifts and was going to take my lap top to the coffee shop to write but the outside world pulled at me and so I took a walk on our local river path through town and it was so beautiful and I was so grateful to be walking unencumbered, taking in the sights, I felt like I had walked for days in the wilderness when my 30 minutes was up.