7 Quick Takes about How We're All Housecats, Parking Lot Naps, and Daily Schedules I Won't Be Using

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

This summer, my parents want to fly our kids out to stay with them for 9 days. They've done it before with just the older ones, but this time they're taking all of them.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?

It means that Phillip and I will be alone in the house for over a week. No school pickups or soccer dropoffs or rides to a friend's house. No worrying about anyone except ourselves for over a week. We are still trying to wrap our heads around this information.

"What do you want to do while the kids are gone?" Phillip keeps asking me. And I tell him I don't know. We are indoor cats that have escaped outside: we don't know what to do with our newfound freedom and will probably end up just hiding under the porch until someone comes to get us.

—2—

I've more or less adjusted to the 50-minute round trip it takes to drop my son off at his new gymnastics gym, but sometimes it's a hard drive to make when I'm sleepy. I get the same highway hypnosis as when we're on a road trip.

One day this week I got so tired on the drive there, that I dropped him off and then pulled into the parking lot to take a nap in the van. 

Unfortunately, I only slept for 10 minutes before the pediatrician's office called to make an appointment for one of the kids.

—3—

Our 13-year-old daughter realized that next year her older brother will be graduating, and then she'll be the oldest in the house. They do a lot of goofing around, watching Marvel movies, and other teenage shenanigans I probably don't want to know about.

"It's going to be so boring!" she wailed. 

I pointed out "You've still got two younger brothers, you know, and they do grow up. Like, your older brother thought he'd be bored when the girls left for college, but now you're older and he hangs out with you. By the time he leaves, your younger brother will be older and then the two of you will hang out."

From the other room, the younger brother called out, "Yuck!"

Like I said, there's still some maturing to be done.

—4—

The other evening Phillip and I grabbed the 9- and 11-year-olds and took them on a slightly more successful fishing trip. 

One son caught two fish, and the other reeled in a fish but it escaped from his line as he was being pulled out of the water. Somehow I broke the reel of the fishing pole Phillip has had since he was 15, though. I wasn't even fishing, he just handed it to me to hold for a second while his hands were full.

—5—

ChatGPT is great for some things, but I'm finding that it's not as great for others. I recently watched a TED talk about time management that I couldn't quite figure out how to apply to my own life, so I talked it over with ChatGPT, fed it my to-do list, and asked it to make me a schedule. 

It came up with something that had me waking up at 6AM, didn't account for meals, and shrunk tasks to the time available regardless of whether it was realistic.

At the same time, Phillip was asking ChatGPT to help him design a training plan to reach his current running goal. On the first day, he practically collapsed and died trying to follow its instructions, which is exactly what would've happened to me if I'd tried to follow the to-do schedule it gave me.

I guess if you ask ChatGPT to do something, it will find a way to do it, whether it makes sense or not. Once, our daughter asked it "How many P's are in the word 'mayonnaise'?" and it kept telling her random numbers. It would only say there weren't any if she asked "Are there any P's in the word 'mayonnaise'?"

—6—

We've gotten a family gym membership for the summer, but it's not turning out to be anything like we thought it would be. 

When we signed up for the membership, we had two kids in mind who we thought would particularly love it. As it turns out, those two kids only go when we plant the idea inception-like in their minds earlier in the day. 

Meanwhile, another of our kids has surprised us by loving it so much that they go 6 days a week on their own volition and will bike there if there's not a car available. The staff all recognizes this child and just waves them in like a celebrity without asking for their membership information. 

Parenting is always a surprise, no matter how well you think you know your kids.

—7—

This has been quite a week. End-of-year everything has been happening. Recitals. Field trips. Finals. Graduation parties. Class teacher gifts. I helped spearhead a youth fundraiser at church to raise money for camp. We got our piano tuned and I had lunch with an old friend who's in town for a few days. 

Next week the kids are finally done with all of it, and then we will begin a different kind of crazy when everyone is home all the time and leaving their dirty dishes everywhere. Wish me luck!

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