End of a Busy Week

It's 10:40 pm. The house is splendidly quiet. The Three are all tucked in their respective beds, their blond locks resting on pillows of pink, red and white. Mr. Johnson has retired to bed as well, and I am left in the quiet darkness... the computer monitor and the flashing neon lights of the restaurant across the street my only illumination.

There is the smell of snuffed candles and chocolate chip cookies... remnants of our Earth hour observation. And a quiet stillness... at the end of a busy, busy week.

Mom home from Beijing. Dad off to Beijing. Mom at wake up. Mom at bus stop. Mom at dinner. Mom at bedtime. Reassurance it won't always be this way. Yes, you will see Daddy again! A busy Dad tiptoeing in to bedrooms where children have long been sleeping and planting kisses on foreheads. Meetings. Business trips. Business dinners. Conference calls. IKEA shipment delivered. IKEA shipment unpacked. IKEA boxes played in. IKEA boxes dragged to the curb. IKEA furniture painstakingly put together with a widget the size of a toenail clipper. Phone calls to IKEA for missing parts. Push 2 for English (ever wonder how that felt?). Speaking Mandarin to the Mandarin speaker at the end of the "English" line. Writing articles. Editing articles. Laying out the magazine. Conference with the school. Phone calls to the teacher. Paper work for next year. Violin. School. Language lessons. Phone calls from friends who will suddenly move. E-mails with heavy words... that slowly and painfully sink in: brain tumor, malignancy, just 21 years old. (You are on our minds and in our hearts Holman-Nash's!). Listening to Bei Bei read her first book Top Cat. (Watching her slowly sound out the letters and read sentences. "I am top cat... Am I top cat? Am I top cat?") Seeing the pride on her face and feeling the same in my heart. Birthday parties. Slumber parties. Homework.

Finally... Chinese take out. Family night. Cuddling close under chenille throws. Watching the Cheshire cat and Mad Hatter. Lighting candles. Turning out the lights. Cookies. Milk. Little voices. Sweet voices. Reminding that at end of all busyness, obligations, heart ache, achievement, pleasure and pastimes, the sweet distilled sound of our Three favorite voices is the most treasured part of our days.