The Sound of Silence

There are times when I most definitely like to have a little SILENCE!!! Like after being in my office for 10 hours hearing the incessant hum of 5 continual feed printers running almost non-stop all day! When we turn them off when we get ready to leave, the silence is ...... AMAZING!!!! A welcome relief on the old ears! And brain. Somehow the constant noise just seems to make your brain tired!

But the silence I DON'T like is coming home to an empty house. No one to say "hey honey, I'm home" to. No one to reply "....'bout time! Where ya been all day?" Not to often does hubby go out of town without me, but on a few rare occasions, it happens for a few days. Like today. I scored some FREE tickets to a big NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway for tomorrow, along with parking pass, passes for tour of Roger Staubach's teams garage and pit area and tailgate party/lunch - probably a pretty nifty package for a race fan, but since I'm not a big race fan, I wasn't that hip to the idea of going down there for a quick 24 hour 'there-and-back' trip, so I told DH (dear hubby) to see if one of his sons would like to go with him. Figured they could enjoy a little 'male bonding' down there amongst the noise, cars and smell of fuel. So, off they go. I do hope they have a great time and I'm sure they will. Then he'll go on down toward Houston to visit his mom for a few days. She's getting on up there in age (80 this year) and her husband just passed away in February so he wanted to go visit her. They don't usually see each other but maybe once or twice a year, if that, but I think the older we get, the more he thinks of visiting when he gets the chance. So, I'm glad he's taking this opportunity to spend some time with his side of the family. Lord knows, I do spend time with mine whenever I get the chance so I certainly wouldn't begrudge him to do the same! But I'll sure be feeling lonesome when it comes time for lights out tonight. We don't even usually go to bed at the same time, he usually sits up watching TV until real late (he says it's so I can go to sleep without his loud snoring keeping me awake but I've told him it doesn't bother me - as long as I can fall asleep first!) but since he can sleep in as long as he wants every morning, and I, on the other hand, have to rise and "try to shine" about 5:30 a.m., I do have to hit the sack much earlier than he does. But it's still comforting just knowing he's in the other room watching TV and will be in later. If you're so used to being with your spouse day in and day out, night in and night out, you might unknowingly begin to take their presence for granted. Don't do that! Spending a few days and nights all alone (and that would include no kids in the house, just you, no other living, breathing soul!) will sure make you have a greater empathy and understanding for what it must be like for all of the people who do live alone, widows and widowers, single folks who've never married, ...... wow! I don't know HOW they do it! There's a whole row of little old ladies at our church that always sit together every Sunday and they are so cute, always so happy to see each other, hugging and smiling and laughing together, sharing their little 'candy bag' (little plastic baggy of hard candy that they pass down the row before the sermon gets started!). Sometimes I'll notice one of them has the little tag sticking out the back of her blouse, or her hair might be sticking out a little funny in the back, or the buttons in the back are buttoned cock-eyed, or some little thing like that and I automatically think, 'well, no wonder, there was no one there this morning to help her' ..... no one she could stand proudly in front of and say "honey, how do I look?" as she gives a whirl around, making sure everything is in place. I often wonder how do they manage with no one to help them get their necklace fastened when their fingers don't want to cooperate because of a little arthritis flare up, or because of being a little too shaky that day, how do they get out of their dress when the zipper gets stuck, who buttons up that last button at the top that she just barely can't reach? Bless their hearts ..... the things we take for granted!! Don't ever forget to thank God for your mate!

The sound I'll be looking forward to in a few days ....... "hey honey! I'M HOME!!!!"