I did not have time for company.
After all, we are leaving before dawn tomorrow morning. I had to pack for the children to stay at their grandparents; I had to pack for myself to go where I might not be able to do laundry; I had to clean my house (because, really, who wants to come home– jet-lagged– to a dirty house?). I did not have time.
But Karen and Douglas were coming. Douglas had a business conference in town; they had left their children at home; they were coming to see us.
I wanted that company.
I did not clean before they arrived. I did not have time (remember?) But a wonderful thing about Karen and Douglas is that You Do Not Have To Clean before they arrive. You do not have to clean Ever. That’s a wonderful thing in a houseguest.
So they came, and they stayed, and Karen and I–before Douglas finished his conference– started and almost finished about fifty conversations. We attended William’s tournament basketball game together, and we had Beth and Eric over with their children (you do not have to clean for them, either), and we talked and talked and talked until Far Too Late.
When dawn came today (oh-so-early), I was Still Leaving Tomorrow, and needs were Pressing.
But Karen did All My Laundry. And that includes the sheets I had stripped from the beds On Wednesday (today is Friday). And that includes her bathtowel. And that includes the bathmat in the guest bathroom.
And Douglas made the salad for our dinner tonight, and cut up the vegetables for the roadtrip (oh, odious job), and made the children lunch, and helped water my plants, and cleaned up my kitchen, and unloaded my dishwasher.
And while they did these things, I cleaned up (with the children’s help) the playroom and packed their schoolbooks and cared for my sick child and generally got things Underway.
At one point during all of this, Douglas just stopped me in my helter-skelter. He put one arm around me and one arm around Karen, and he prayed for my family and all the things we had been talking about, all the things we are dealing with. Ahhhh.
Later, I took them for a quick tour of Trinity School and I recalled, as I stood and listened to them talk with our headmaster about Karen’s teaching experience, how I first met Karen. She was a few days late to the teacher in-service days at Cresset Christian Academy, and she was introduced to all of us teachers. She had just returned from her honeymoon, you see. She and Douglas had been married, at that point, for about nine days.
I saw her across the room, and when the sign-up came around for the potluck that night, I saw that she had volunteered to bring– what was it? Salad dressing? She looked so…. Well, nice. Approachable. Real. And I thought to myself: I’d like to be her friend.
That was the beginning.
She was remarking today that they moved away from Durham nine years ago now. Neither one of us can believe it, except for the fact that, since then, she’s had three babies. It takes most of us Some Time to do that.
She still loves it here. She said yesterday that she was driving down 40– a four-lane-highway, six in some places– and she was missing it. You have to really love a place if you can love its very highway. She freely admits to having a crush on Durham and Chapel Hill.
Who can blame her?
We went our separate ways after our visit to the school. I was heading home to care for my sick boy and finish packing; they were off to see other friends.
As we drove away, Emma Grace said, “Mom, I thought they were staying 90 days.”
“No,” I said. “just one, really.” And I felt sad.
“They don’t feel like Miss Karen and Mr. Douglas,” she said.
“They don’t?” I said.
“No. They feel like Aunt and Uncle,” she said.
I thought that sounded Absolutely True.
