Culture Shock

With a change in the work schedule this week, Old Wahoo was home for dinner on Tuesday evening. It really should have been like a Monday night, my normal day off, but it felt different, as if the family was getting a "normal" night together - meaning that Mom, Dad and the kids all were together for meal time, just like I had with my parents and brothers and just like "Ozzie and Harriet."

But our family has a new "normal," and I expect many other families have their own versions of normal, too. There are definite advantages to working evenings. Besides having a job (for which I consider myself lucky), I get to spend more time with the younger children and watch them grow. There are disadvantages, such as spending less time with Rob and a lack of sleep (though I suspect that many others, even on a more traditional work schedule, struggle with rest, too).

Mostly, though, I realized how crazy evenings can be with the kids running on a buzz created by hunger and fatigue. Mornings have their craziness, too, but most days I only experience that early turmoil. Laura gets both, and I got to see how much she has to handle, and it made me wish I could help her in the evenings.

Still, we go on with our version of "normal." Though we often wish for something different and more time together, most times, we make it work - switching kid-watching duties at 3 p.m. most afternoons and trying to make the most of it . I'm hoping your "normal" - whatever it is - works, too.