So my grand kids arrived in Louisville this past Saturday and stayed with me till yesterday, Wednesday. We had so much fun and did so many things together. I think the best part was spending time with different family members and friends while Cason and Karys were in town.

We played indoor putt-putt golf with my daughters and son-in-law. I had never played putt-putt indoors and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a fun course and much cooler inside than outside.

I have very generous neighbors, Frankie and Phillip, who have a great pool with a low diving board. Sunday three of my nieces and their children came and swam with us. Karys was the only girl out of eight kids but she did not seem to mind. She will be nine next month and is used to playing with boys.

Monday we met my step girl Andrea and her children at the water park in Elizabethtown, Ky. That is us in the picture above: Caroline, Bryar, Andrea, myself, and Cason, in the back row, Karys and Lea together in the front. We had a great time, as usual.

Tuesday we went to play with my brother Mark’s two puppies, Maggie and Molly. They are Blue Heelers, cattle dogs, and are about six months old. I’m not sure who got tired the most running around, the kids or the dogs. :O) Then we went and flew Cason’s new toy drone/airplane in my neighbor’s field. Then over to one of the Foxy Hags, Robin’s home, to ride the horses and jump in the pool. Cason, Karys and Lea rode Brandy and Star around the front field. Those kids couldn’t quit smiling.

I had a great time with them everyday. I didn’t worry about chores or cleaning the house. I am wiser now and understand all that will wait for me. I smiled a lot, too. After all, I was spending time with several experts on How to Play which naturally means fun times and laughter. Here are three tips I learned to keep play time in your day:

1. Lea is eight years old but according to her she used to be “a little girl, now not so much, but I can still play like a little girl if I want to”.
2. Cason helped me vacuum up dog hair from Reddogg as he is shedding something terrible again. ( not sure why as we had two months of no shedding) The vacuum has a long hose on it and according to Cason, “This is fun and I’m not vacuuming, I’m a Ghost Buster!”.
3. Karys was watching me through my front door which as you know is mostly glass. Well, one doesn’t just look out the door. No, you press your nose against it to make it look like you have a pig nose. That causes your Marmie, (me) to crack up!

The only down side to all these good times is that when it is over and everyone has gone back home, Our Treehouse gets very quiet. Yesterday evening it was just Reddogg and me, and I became quite melancholy. It happens to me every time. I think a lot of us parents and grand parents feel this soft grief when our kids leave home. We feel it every time they come back to us to visit, and then leave again. I have learned to expect this and to sit with these feelings of sadness for times gone by. And then it’s like what my Grandma Prudie taught me decades ago, “Everything looks a little bit better in the morning”. She was right. I have been up and doing my own thing today, and cleaning house, playing a little Ghost Busters on my own. I know there are good times in the future, that they will all be back. I know I am loved. And there is a small smudge on my front glass door in the shape of a pig’s nose. I think I will wait awhile before I wipe it off… :O)

c   Love, Joan