The Dream/The Reality

The Dream: Coming Home
You drive into the drive way at the end of your trip. The hours seemed to just fly by. The cats run out to the driveway as they hear the children's voices. You are blown away by the beautiful flowers, the newly mown and edged lawn, and the garden.
As you walk in the house, which is spotless, you smell wonderful odors wafting thru the air. It smells like homemade bread, cookies, and other delectable dishes. Mom and Dad are energetic and happy to see you. They have spent the day sitting in their chairs waiting for your arrival. They each took a nap so that they would be alert and refreshed when you arrived. They seem to look younger each time you see them.
The big shocker is that since you all have been here, Mom and Dad added on a new large family room and several new bedrooms so that the children will have room to frolic and play while the adults gather in a separate, quiet part of the house. They used the money they won from
turning in a lottery ticket that they found on the street. Oh, what a perfect homecoming

The Reality:
You pull into the driveway and park under the big cherry tree. The next morning your car is covered with cherries and bird poop. You are exhausted. It has been a long day. The children, or child are/is tired and grouchy. You notice the flower beds have weeds where flowers should be. The driveway needs to be blown off. The children run after the cats and the cats run the other way. The only one they like is Jon. The squirrels seem to be friendlier than the cats.
You open the door. You're hungry but there isn't really anything to eat. Dad shops now so mainly there is fruit, cat food, and peanuts for the squirels. Once in a while, Kaysha gets fed up with coming over and having to bring her own food, so she goes and gets some groceries for the house. Mom and Dad are sitting in their chairs. What happened to them since the last time we saw them?? We secretly plan to get all the siblings together and plan which nursing home to put them in. It looks eminate.
Did anyone change the sheets? Who slept in this room last? Has this house always been this small? How did we fit 6 kids in here? The adults get a bed. The kids get the floor.
You open the garage door. Holy Hannah!!! What happened out here? What has happened to Dad's great organizational skills? Has he no pride left? You grab a piece of toast for dinner, which you prepare yourself.
The next morning, Deyce has bites from some unknown bug. They seem to know when she is coming. Mom is up early. Dad gets up later. He is a little depressed because his fantasy baseball team is being beat by an 8 year old kid in the midwest. Jon is busy fixing Mom's excel program, Dad has Garrick cornered on the sofa, talking about baseball. Dawn and Deyce are cooking, since no one else has done any. Kelly finds a pair of Dad's earplugs and stuffs them in her ears. She is stuck in the office again, but at least Mom cleaned off her desk. Kaysha and Deena show up. The children frolic in the backyard until it starts to rain. They all come in and start running around the circle(fam room, front room, office, etc). All the adults put ear plugs in .The kids decide to play hide and seek, pulling covers off beds,etc. Deena goes for a short 15 mile run. She comes back, not even sweating. It has stopped raining and Kelly has the kids in the backyard doing boot camp. What an aunt!
Well, things aren't perfect, but we can't wait. We love you all and miss you when you aren't here
MOM