Alone

One last night alone before my crew returns.
Mark's grandmother picked the girls up an hour ago and they're spending the night with her. This saves me from running them over in the morning before work and saves the girls from another long day at the office with me.
They did well on their 9 to 5 shift today. Right off the bat they met D, one of our pet customers. He went to grade school with my dad but rode a shorter bus, if you know what I mean. He is the sort who never forgets to get me and my sister a Christmas gift but must be told to wipe the donut from his face. He has an uncanny ability to predict when we have donuts in the office. Less impressive when we realized it was because he was watching us from the gas station parking lot across the street. I guess that could seem creepy, but he's harmless. He's our D. Gotta love him.
So the girls came to work with me today since we hadn't planned out any other arrangements for them while the boys were camping. They brought plenty to do and basically held it together until lunch, when we went out to get food and I told them to get all the wrestling out of their system while they were in the car because they were going to have to get ahold of themselves for the second half of the day. I'd say they did pretty great for a long damn day in an office. I know it's tough for me.
Last night they slept with me instead of in their usual pile on the floor. And this evening we had tortilla chips for supper and snuggled on the couch laughing out loud at cartoons. I've been relishing the cuddling. There are plenty of other times they are so squirmy I have to shoo them away 'Git!' before they send me into conniptions.
Aggie was torn between the opportunity to sleep over at grandma's with a bonus trip to the movies, and leaving her dear old mum all alone. It wasn't because I said anything to make her feel that way, she was just worrying about me. Little Mother Hen. I remember when I was in 2nd grade (or 3rd?) and it was my sister's first day of kindergarten, and I fretted and worried to the point of tears for her all day only to find out that she'd had a perfectly wonderful time. So I tried my best to convince Aggie that I'd be just fine for one short night.
Oh, and I locked myself out of the house as they were driving away. How many times do I have to do that before I take preventive measures? Why oh why do I turn that little lock when I'm just stepping out on the porch? What is that? And of course the one window I can usually crawl through Mark had locked before he left town. Super. And I'd been locking everything else the whole time I've been home without him. So I stood in the dark in the cold, on the porch, without a phone, and no one to call anyway. Even if Mark wasn't hours and hours away and unreachable by phone, his keys were in the house too. I'm pretty sure the Onstar (brilliant waste of money so far, by the way-thanks for proving that yet again, Onstar--unlock my damn house if you're so smart!) in the car still has phone minutes but who to call? No one has a spare key. But hallelujah when I tried the 'front door!' Our house is one of those houses where you don't really use the front door. We used to use it, but the front of the house, picket fenced yard, and front porch all belong to the dogs now. They have destroyed the grass, buried & excavated the walkway, dug giant hole/forts for themselves and turned the porch into a barn/dog sty. Whatever, at this point. Point was, Aggie didn't lock the door after she fed Copper! And I'm an idiot. Must hide a key somewhere and soon.
Mark did give a call this afternoon. They're up in the Allegheny National Forest and they have to take a 15 minute drive to get to a point where there's phone service. He said Sam asked him to climb a mountain, and Mark agreed, and then Sam 'ran up the mountain,' got to the top, and then bounced and jumped all the way down 'like Tigger.' I guess Sam's old man had trouble keeping up with him. And it sounds like they've had fun, so I'm glad. Can't wait to take that boy hiking! Appalachian Trail, here we come.