Trial run

I've always known that at some point it would just be me and J. along with H. and R. at home. I've also always wondered what that was going to actually look like. After this past week, I can tell you that it will look okay and I have crossed it off my list of items to vaguely worry about. 

For the first time sin a long time, I have had absolutely nothing on my calendar (which is not great from a business standpoint, but lovely to have all the unscheduled time), so this was kind of an extreme trial. We're we going to get along or was I going to lose my mind. I actually had no idea. We ended up having a lovely week.

Both H. and R. can do things such as get themselves dressed and one of H.'s household jobs for the past couple of years has been to get R. breakfast. This meant that I only needed to worry about getting myself up and dressed to get out to the barn because H. and R. we're fine inside. I also made the decision that the mornings needed to be spent in some sort of activity together. They are both amenable to just about anything, but I knew H. enjoyed gardening and boy, did I need to get some done. As I mentioned in previous posts, this was a win all the way around. 

After lunch, everyone did their own thing and often by the late afternoon, they had both found me in my studio because they like watching me work. It's been more than three decades that I have had an audience while I was doing some sort of project, so their hanging out with me was just our normal. Since I am very good at filling my time, the week passed rather quickly without really any difficulty. 

The one thing we didn't do was go anywhere. The van is now at the point where I really don't want to drive it, and the idea of having it stop working while I had just H. and R. with me sounded miserable. We just stayed put. In a more real life situation, any errands I would need to do would require them coming with me. Even as competent as H. is right now, staying home alone isn't really an option for her. That's not actually a problem, I would just need to allow for the extra time it would take. What to do if I need to go somewhere and can't take them with me is a problem I am not going to worry about right now. Too much can change before that becomes an issue. 

Really, I am just pleased and relieved at how well the week has gone. And I am more than a little shocked at how little I have spent on food this week! It's been half what I normally spend. 

The four in Guatamala fly home on Saturday. It will be good to see them.