Happy Noise

As my son was making his usual night time noise in the kitchen sliding his skateboard from one end of the kitchen to the other I was thinking how quiet my place used to be about 15 years ago. Back then I lived in a two bedroom house with a backyard and a small flower garden on the side of the front porch. I didn't plant but watered and admired the green thumb of the previous owner. The neighborhood was the most quiet one I had ever lived in. Not much traffic went down that street even though it was off a main street and a couple blocks from a popular park. 
 Living alone was an adventure in quiet for me since I had just moved away from home where 6 people lived including 2 small nephews. For the first 6 months I didn't know what to do with my new found peace and quiet. I used to go outside in the backyard and sit on a patio chair I had got from the thrift store and just dit and read on my days off. 

I thought that after I had kids I would miss this quiet. I thought that I would and thought that it would not matter if instead of quiet I heard laughter in the backyard from my future sons and daughters. Yes, I had planned in my mind to have more then one. I thought about all the things I would do with my family. All the picnics in the backyard and water balloon fights in the front yard, all the board games to be played in the family room and movies watched in the den. I thought about the bickering they would do like me and my sister did everyday when we were young which put us in more time outs in our room that we can count using all of our collective fingers and toes. 

My family fantasy was perfect. The reality was a whole lot different. My  family in reality consists of one child and me. The house I lived in then is long gone out of the family. But, one thing in my fantasy remained true, I don't mind noise. OK, not too much most days. I have to be honest. And honestly, my sons laughter makes me smile.