Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“What, Daddy?” our eldest asked.
“I think, since you were so busy working all day on this, that we should have Uncle Lucky drop off pizza tonight,” I said, having noticed when I’d walked past the kitchen that Traveler hadn’t even had a chance to get anything going yet.
We had our meal train going, but sometimes she was so busy with the kids that even getting a tray in the oven took time she didn’t have.
Pizza was always a crowd-pleaser in our house, especially given how infrequently we had it.
What with all the grandmas, aunts, and cousins who loved cooking, as well as Traveler when she had the time and energy, there was usually no reason to order in.
“And,” Traveler said, handing over the baby as I reached for him. “I think we are going to eat on our trays in the living room!” she said, making a big deal out of it, like some grand adventure. When the two of us both knew it was because cleaning up the craft project looked like way too much fucking work after a long day.
We weren’t always an immaculate house kind of family. Toys were almost always scattered around. Muddy shoes rarely found themselves back in their cubbies by the door. There were always at least a few dishes in the sink, no matter how many times we ran the dishwasher.
But we were okay with that.
Life with four kids, we’d decided, should be a little chaotic. Fun should beat out function whenever it could. And time spent with each other should always trump time spent toiling away at endless chores.
“How did you do that, you monster?” Traveler asked a few minutes later, watching from the doorway with small eyes as I got the baby in the crib without him waking up. Touchdown, we would call it, when the second his little back hit the mattress, he was up and screaming again.
“It’s in the jiggle roll,” I said.
“The jiggle roll?” she asked, brows going up.
“Yeah, you know, jiggle,” I said, reaching out to grab her arms and give her a jiggle. “Then the roll,” I added, rocking her side to side.
“The jiggle roll. Right. How did I not think of that?” she said, shaking her head at me as she followed me down the stairs and out onto the screened-in porch.
The kids were already outside, trying to hang their DIY bird feeders off the branches of the Weeping Willow tree where Traveler had built a low treehouse for the kids to play in.
“Told you that tree wasn’t going anywhere,” she said, leaning into me, prompting me to press a kiss to her temple.
“Yeah, I figure if I let it stand, we at least have one thing to argue about for the next twenty or thirty years,” I said, getting a big smile out of her.
A lifetime of arguing and making up with Traveler.
Sounded pretty fucking perfect to me.
XX