home alone

Last night Eli and I returned from a road trip to Utah for his brother-in-law's wedding and for Jesse's graduation ceremonies. Last December Jesse graduated from BYU with a degree in psychology. Great job, Jesse! My younger children, Hannah (18 1/2) and Isaac (15) had too many obligations at home to come with us, so I left them here to take care of each other. They were not home when we returned, but I could tell they had done a fine job except for a few minor things...

I noticed they hadn't brought in the mail for three days. I was surprised, as they had brought in Eli's mail for him (and he lives a mile away). In all fairness to them, however, that was on the list Eli left for them and I had neglected to put that on my list. (I wondered why checking HIS mail hadn't triggered the thought to check OUR mail; oh well).

Not wanting to burden them, my list on the kitchen chalk board was amazingly brief:
-pick up band uniform at dry cleaners Thur. aft.
-put trash out Thur. night
-mow yard Sat.
-take stuff to church
-stake trek mtg Sun night

When I got home, the first two had been done and erased, replaced with the message:
"Mom, cookie dough's in the fridge" clearly meaning, "Mom, we know you've had a long trip, we're glad you're home, please have fresh cookies waiting for us when we get home from church." Lest you think me cynical, know that the first thing out of Hannah's mouth when she got home was not, "Mom!" it was "Cookies!"

Back to the rest of my list. It was still on the chalk board but wasn't the same list as I left:
-move yard sale
-take &%#$ to church
-star trek mtg Sun night

Needless to say, the lawn wasn't mowed (but then, neither was the yard sale moved!?!), the star trek meeting was a peculiar disappointment, and I didn't dare ask what they took to church! But in all fairness to them, it had been a busy few days with school, tennis tournament, a two-day swim meet a city away, annual March of Dimes walk... And, although not on my list, they HAD done the grocery shopping and kept up with the dishes, aren't they great kids!