define home

It's been that kind of week, and it's only Tuesday. The hub drove back to Texas to watch the movers pack up our entire house. It's the only house I haven't been able to say good bye to, haven't been able to sneak a kiss somewhere on an empty wall, and it's hitting me that my home is sitting there all alone and empty. It's one thing to want to leave a state, but it doesn't mean I wanted to leave my house.

 These feelings are only expounded by continuing to live in a hotel. We have no roots. And anyone will tell you - rootless isn't strong. I've been cranky, downright cranky, and I can no longer stand running into everything and everyone in these tiny rooms. I don't do "temporary" well, and it shows. Britton is tired of this too. She rides her bike in a damn parking lot. She runs after her ball in the same grass where everyone takes their pets to go to the bathroom. You can only stay in a pool for so long before it is no longer entertaining. I overestimated how much I thought I could make it work by just pretending we were on vacation.

 Britton spent the last two days with Memaw and PawPaw, which is always a welcome distraction for her. It gets her in the company of her favorite people, out in the country where she can be free. Memaw returned Britton this morning, and I had to finish a title opinion, so Britton had to go to school. She didn't want to. She even talked me into treating her to lunch before I dropped her off. I'm a sucker when my daughter says she wants to have lunch with me...

It's the kind of week where Britton drew all over Sadie with a pink marker because she was trying to trace Sadie's paws on paper. And I figure it's not worth the hassle of giving Sadie a bath.

The kind of week where Britton brings up her bumble bee costume, and her sheer excitement that it was indeed in her closet was intoxicating. After our glorious lunch together, she threw a fit at me leaving her at school. The kind of fit I haven't seen in a long time, where I stood outside her classroom waiting to make sure she was okay. Where I had to have the director check on her, for fear that if she saw me she wouldn't make the mistake of letting go this time.

 On our drive home, I mentioned that tomorrow is "yellow shirt day" at her school, and she says she wants to wear her bumble bee shirt. That turns into a quizzical look, wherein she says, "Or maybe my bumble bee costume, but we don't have my costume? We don't have my costume Mommy? Because it's too small, but I'm big, and my costume is big too." "Yes, we have that costume Britton. We'll get it when we get home."