Here’s a report on living back in my old childhood home after being gone for 15 years (which basically means I’ve been gone longer than I actually lived there). First strange thing is being here with a husband and two kids, which results in a weird sort of role-reversal thing. Instead of laying in bed listening to someone walk down the hall to switch the laundry, it’s me creeping down the hall trying to remember which boards squeak (an advantage I have over Scott) and wondering if the kids are in there, listening to me!

Carson’s terrified of the basement and won’t go down there by himself when it’s dark, which I can totally relate to! (Seriously dad, did you pop out of some obscure hole and scar him for life too??) I think it’s funny the kids forget I can see them in the family room from the kitchen and I have developed a new appreciation for sleeping far enough away that we can’t hear their every breath – turns out, those little munchkins can get themselves back to sleep without us!

The furniture has improved considerably (either they didn’t trust us with leather, or couldn’t afford it at the time) and the mixer has been replaced with a coffee pot (which might show our lives have been moving in generally the same direction – baked goods are optional, coffee is not.) The study had an old computer that I only used occasionally when I left (I didn’t even have email ‘til I got to college) and now we just use our laptops on the couch, so it turns out I skipped over the entire time that room was most useful!

But many things are the same... On the outside, Mr. Bunny still lives at the first corner (OK, it’s probably a great-great-great grandchild of our Mr. Bunny), Lizzy still lives by the front steps and dad’s still trying to keep deer out of his apple trees. Mom has managed to preserve the Mickey Mouse border in both of our rooms, which is either frightening or enduring, and the steps in the living room are still a really good place to do somersaults... as long as it’s not me. Through the kids’ eyes I have rediscovered the joy of hearing the same ten notes of various songs come from the doorbell and can relate to the large-scale city that springs to life in their minds when they ride their bikes around on the blacktop outside.

Although I won’t be sad when it’s finally time to move it has been fun to actually live at home again – at least for a few weeks:)