In my last post I wrote about how people tend to gloss over the garbage in their lives and tend to only show the good, the magazine worthy, the happy place where everyone gets along and everything is wonderful.

Today you get some of my garbage.

Unglossed.

Our daughter came to stay with us for a while at the end of this summer. She has been home for almost a week now.

She and her three wonderful kitties, made the 20 hour drive home and the whole time she was on the road I was a complete disaster.

Tears, sadness, loneliness, no soft fluffy kitties to share snuggles with in the morning…

It was nice to have her here. We were just getting used to having a fourth person on the bus, the entire time being grateful that we went with an E4500 instead of something smaller. I can't imagine 4 grown people (or 6 because her two BFFs were here too for the first week!) and 3 cats on a school bus!

It was nice to work with her, always working with men can get old, they don't listen or do anything the way you tell them to. It was nice to go to the beach with her, to hit the laundromat or walk down to the showers with her, or just sit next to her in silence.

It was just nice to feel her energy here.

It was also hard to have her here.

She'd had a year to get used to living with just her cats, no roommates. She was used to the quiet, to not having to think about other people when it came to bathroom time, or cooking, or just moving around in general.

She also had to get used to the idea that most restaurants and stores up here are closed by 7 P.M., some of them even earlier. There are only two fast food places in town, so she can't just run to wing stop after work or in the middle of the night either.

She learned that the local post office tends to mark things as delivered when they put them on the truck, and that if Amazon says “Delivered” at 8 A.M. you shouldn't run down to the mailbox because it won't actually be there until closer to 4 P.M. Or maybe tomorrow.

She discovered her brother is only a couple inches shy of a foot taller than her, but he's not quite stronger than her yet so she can still pick on him. But, he was also used to her not being here and has since discovered that he needs to find a better way to handle his annoyance and disappoinent these days; when size alone can mean no more shoving one's fun-sized big sister out of one's room.

She discovered that we expected her to help out with things like dishes and cleaning while she was here, because she’s not a guest, she’s part of the family. That her cats should always be her responsibility, they're not mine to feed and water, and their litter box was definitely not mine to clean.

Despite all the relearning we had to do as a family after only a year apart, we enjoyed our time together. The little arguments and bickering between siblings were actually nice to hear again. The eye rolls and smart-assery had been sorely missed.

The inside jokes Andy and Connor were never a part of were back, the hugs and sarcastic comments were too. In fact, even the bad habits, like leaving dirty dishes on her desk, were sort of comforting…after I carried them to the kitchen and bitched about them first.

Now that she is back where she lives I feel good. Knowing she is safely at home, where she knows the area and isn't driving for 20 hours across the country (Thanks M & A for taking my girl and her three kitties in for the night!) takes most of my worries away.

Most of them.

Moms never actually stop worrying, do they.