BACK IN THE DAY.......!

Has it really been that long since my 5 SMALL FRYS, as I used to call them, were just that??? SMALL and running around the house? I must admit, I now ENJOY the peace and quiet. MOST days! HAHA! But, sometimes, I get this quick stab of pain when I think and remember days gone by! Days when the FRY HOUSE was FULL of NOISE/LAUGHTER/FIGHTS (sometimes!)/GIGGLES/TEARS/HUGS/NOISE!!!! There was ALWAYS something going on with FIVE kids around!!!! Dancing lessons, soccer practice, baseball practice, choir practice! Poor Patrick ONLY took naps IN THE CAR and would often sleep while his brothers were on the field practicing soccer or his sister was in dancing class! I think the reason Katie is such a good sleeper to this day is because NOISE was what kept her asleep! If it were quiet, she couldn't sleep! (to this day , she has to have the T.V. on to go to sleep at night! HAHA). Oh yes, it was a wild household BACK IN THE DAY! This year is so different. NO one here now. Sometimes I relish the days that BACK IN THE DAY, I often YEARNED for!Those days I remember thinking would NEVER come! I remember thinking, I will NEVER be able to take a bath without LITTLE HANDS coming up under the door! HAHAHA! OR, EVER be able to read a book again, or even WRITE (like I love to do!). BUT, that day is here. Now I go to sleep reading/ I take QUIET baths/I even get to write sometimes! AND, thankfully, these days I can even SCRAPBOOK (something I NEVER could've done when the kids were home!).Anyway, not to get too nostalgic, but I MUST ADMIT (and I hope you kids are reading!), I DO soooo miss having all my SMALL FRYS here sometimes! The week-end at Watercolor , during the wedding, was the best week-end I've had since, WELL, since all the FRYS were under one roof!I was overwhelmed. Not with having even MORE Frys (counting the grands and in-laws) but overwhelmed with JOY and MEMORIES and JOY. So, it is with much of the same that I enter this Christmas season. Of remembering and of thankfulness. And, yes, a few tears of joy....>!