Vinnie, our son/brother, came home for the weekend and we’re especially thrilled.
Until Vinnie moved out in August to begin his freshman year of college, we’d forgotten that there were hardwood floors in his bedroom.
After 18 years of nagging, though, it turned out I wasn’t such a big fan of the clean bedroom.
For the bulk of our time here in our house in the middle of our street, we have been a family of six with four bedrooms and just one bathroom and a half. Neither Molly nor I particularly enjoy math, but even we understand the logistical issues those numbers create.
Especially Molly.
Born last, Molly enjoyed her own room for two years. From then on, though, her life was nomadic. She bunked with Vinnie for a time until he announced that he was too old to share a room with a girl. Then she moved in with Katherine, who had just spent the summer fighting hard to pull the carpeting off her floors, paint the walls and redecorate the windows. Katherine kicked Molly out soon after following an incident involving puddles of fingernail polish and fresh hardwood floors.
That night 16-year old Charlie kindly offered to let Molly sleep in his room. Sadly, a mysteriously unplugged alarm clock (whose cord lay suspicously close to Molly’s grasp) led to Charlie being late for morning football practice. That arrangement ended after just one night.
At one point Molly set up a fort in our family room until Katherine graciously gave her a second chance.
One by one the siblings have left the house leaving Molly with her choice of bedrooms. She summers in one room, and winters in another.
But, when everyone is home we live in a state of happy chaos, with Molly homeless once again. We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving, when the whole gang and some assorted guests will fill the house.
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| Quite a shock to see the floor in Vinnie’s room |
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| Not such a fan of the tidy lonely bedroom after all. In 2004 16-year old Nicki Krause painted that Godfather mural. |