Holidays with a Full House

I have had a rejuvenating week off of work. Lots of family and friends have been camping out at our house, making good use of the blankets and pillows that squat in the cupboard like hens in their roosts waiting to mother something. Our house is matchbox size, but it is a cozy matchbox and everyone who stays here knows it to be so, yet they still come. Somehow it all works. Tonight my good friends from Santa Cruz are coming in to celebrate my birthday and new year's. Scott and I will give them our bed and we will camp out in Mikayla's room. Our friend Mary will sleep on the living room couch, so we will be busting full. I oftentimes feel like our house is inadequate because of its limitations, but I should just get over it, because it has always worked out to have lots of guests. Being just three blocks from the longest pier on the west coast makes our location special.

It feels so complete to have Ben and Mikayla home. Ben has matured into a quiet-spoken, contained, extremely knowledgeable young man, who is thoughtful in both the thinking deeply sense and the thinking of others sense. He has fully crossed the threshold into adulthood and I couldn't be more pleased with the adult he has become.

Mikayla is my light at the end of any dark day. She has a way of always being happy about something, always has something to look forward to and is enthusiastic with people. She is having so much fun in college, loves her dorm mate, has loads of friends and is looking forward to her classes when she goes back. She is the opposite of pigpen in Peanuts. She always has a clear sunny sky over her head, not a raincloud.

Our house is full of "kids". Ben and Mikayla are here, Andy is here, Ben's girlfriend and another friend of his are here from out of town. I love it! I love listening to what they are talking about, watching Youtube clips with them, talking to them about their plans. They are the fountain of youth that will nourish the world long after me. Like when I am close to the ocean and get the affects of the negative ions, I feel like I get the same kinds of affects around all these young ones. Somehow I feel more alive.