No Place Like Home

Today was the first time our family's been together for three weeks, and the last time in another three weeks, because Scott's been, and will be, at Bible School.  We've looked at the videos of skits and volleyball tournaments and basketball games. And still shots of dorm rooms and campus, and many strange people...all of them described dutifully as either "cool"  or "pretty cool", or "really cool". He had a good time, I guess. 

It was a lovely rainy day. We haven't had one in awhile.

Then it was time for house-cleaning, menu-making, memorandum constructing, and homework tackling.

 The rain kept coming, the thunder rolled.

We decided it'd be a good time to make an afternoon trip to town. We needed a few things. We had some nice gift certificates to use. Might as well make the most of the day! I needed buttons for the dress I am making. We needed school supplies. I had a grocery list to there and back.

The rain came in torrents.

We started the bathing, hair combing, clothes-changing process. No small thing when eight people are involved. 
But...the 2 AM bedtime we had the night before started  taking it's toll about then--on me anyway. Between that and the rhythm of the rain, I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to crawl back into bed! 
Not at all a timely urge.
I denied it for a time. But images of us all slogging through the rain from the Expedition into Joann's, (while the guys grumbled) Lowe's, (while the girls sighed), Walmart, (while The Chief muttered), and Bilo (while we all just wished we were home already) started seeming less and less glamorous.

"Would y'all be okay with just staying home?" I said.
Several pairs of of eyes looked at me, startled. 
"It's just so....wet." I said, remembering now that it had been MY idea to go shopping in the first place. My poor family. 
The Chief didn't care one way or the other, he said, because he'd have to go out in it to buy groceries anyway.
There was a sprinkling of half-hearted protests, and some expressions of ambivalence.
It takes passion and determination to have fun going shopping with a family of eight in a downpour. We clearly didn't have it.
We're staying home. Where it's dry; where it's warm, where the lamps are lit, and coffee makings sit ready in the corner. And games call sweetly from a well-stocked cabinet. Where we have everything in the world we could want for a perfect evening.

Except groceries. And The Chief.