Mondays I pick the girls up from school, bring them back to work with me for the afternoon, then pick up Shawn from high school and take everybody back to my house, where we make dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Myndi comes to join us when she gets off work, and sometimes Paul joins us too.\u00c2\u00a0 Then Myndi takes the kids home with her and I collapse on the couch and watch the ceiling whirl around.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting to get the hang of it, though.\u00c2\u00a0 At first I tried really hard to make dinners that were 1) healthy\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 2) things I like and 3) things all three teenagers will eat.\u00c2\u00a0 But again and again I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d buy things at the grocery store that I thought were exactly what they would like, only to find out we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like bread with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153things\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in it, only certain brands of Ranch dressing are acceptable, and orange chicken from Panda Express is everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favorite but somehow cooking chicken at home and buying a bottle of Panda Express Orange Sauce is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153too weird.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much easier just to make them cook.<\/p>\n
Happily, they like taking charge of the kitchen.\u00c2\u00a0 The first time we tried this, it was an elaborate plan:\u00c2\u00a0 Taco Night!\u00c2\u00a0 The girls went to the grocery store with me and picked out ingredients.\u00c2\u00a0 I assisted by chopping things up and putting everything in bowls, and then I left the kitchen entirely to them.\u00c2\u00a0 At dinner time, we found an elegant table set with a vase of flowers, place cards assigning seats, and menus written in curly script so that we could specify exactly what we wanted in our tacos.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard several alarming crashes in the kitchen and an awful lot of giggling.\u00c2\u00a0 When they appeared with our (healthy and delicious) tacos, they were both wearing cocktail dresses they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d raided from my closet.<\/p>\n
Usually, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less formal.\u00c2\u00a0 Last night we had sandwiches for dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody made their own:\u00c2\u00a0 3 adults and 3 teenagers navigating around each other in my poorly-designed little kitchen.\u00c2\u00a0 Shawn was singing Christmas carols.\u00c2\u00a0 Myndi was recounting her day.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul was managing the bacon.\u00c2\u00a0 Emily was coming and going so she could visit her family.\u00c2\u00a0 Angie was finishing her math.\u00c2\u00a0 The cats were hiding under the bed.\u00c2\u00a0 I was trying to keep out of the way.\u00c2\u00a0 Some vegetables were involved somewhere.<\/p>\n
Shawn analyzed all of us based on whatever it was his high school psych class learned that day.\u00c2\u00a0 Emily gave me an extra hug on the way out the door.\u00c2\u00a0 Angie tried to persuade me that she could watch tv and do math at the same time, which is probably true (I used to do it), but I said no.\u00c2\u00a0 After dinner Shawn disappeared to talk to his girlfriend on the phone, Paul watched tv with Angie for a while, and Myndi and I looked at vacation plans over Christmas.<\/p>\n
Emily collected the sweater she left at my house last time, and forgot a different one.\u00c2\u00a0 Angie cried because the end of the show was romantically tragic.\u00c2\u00a0 Shawn came back for more sandwiches while Myndi tried to get everybody into the car.\u00c2\u00a0 Somehow a soccer ball was left behind.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure where it came from, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure I