Sunday afternoon – alone time together

Sunday, late-afternoon.

M is in the kitchen, preparing dinner. I’m in the dining room, folding laundry. Baby is running around us, deeply engrossed in a game of her own creation. Her stuffed monkey, the lovey in favor today, is resting on the step stool in the kitchen. She runs back and forth to the living room, gathering the things she needs to tend to all of monkey’s needs.

I love Sunday afternoons.

Weekends can be quite crazy. For three people, we make an astonishing amount of plans. We have an astonishing amount of things-to-do. We fill our house with an astonishing amount of noise and chatter. We achieve an astonishing level of busyness.

But by Sunday afternoon, we’re calm. We retreat to our respective corners. Each person doing their own thing. Knowing that a quick hug or passing hello is no more than a couple of feet away, we each enjoy some ‘me-time’ in the presence of each other.

This group me-time is key to a balanced family life for us. We all look forward to the weekends. Two days to reconnect and regroup with each other. But that can’t come at the expense of our own well-being. Our own need for some quiet, alone time.

So for us, it feels right to have our alone time together.

That’s just one of the ways that we make this crazy, busy life feel a little bit balanced.