The Portrait Studio

It's the weekend, signalling that break is almost over. I only work part-time but gosh I love these lazy, easy days with everyone home. It feels so normal, commonplace--and it's easy for me to forget that that isn't normal anymore.

I'm not sure I'll ever adjust to the new normal.

When you think about it, the time period of your life where you are raising kids takes up only a small portion of your life. Yet at the time, when the kids are little or even in elementary school, it feels like it will be forever--an eternity of making breakfast and intervening in mindless squabbles and cleaning up messes and creating traditions that will last a lifetime.

I am still baffled at how fast it flew by.

Last night the girls were both gone--out with friends for the evening--so it was just the three of us upstairs in the mancave. For the past two weeks, one of the girls (usually Darian) has been home every night and Jace loves their presence here. So after a couple of hours of "just us", he walked over to where I was sitting on the couch, threw himself down with a heavy sigh, and said, "I'm bored."

"Miss your sisters?"

He nodded. "I don't like it when they're gone."

I know, Jace. Believe me: I know.

Yesterday the girls went shopping and we decided to take Jace and meet them at Chuck E. Cheese mid-afternoon. We all arrived at the same time, thanks to modern technology, and divied out the coins. And the playing began. We love that place--every single one of us. I just don't think you can outgrow Chuck E. Cheese! We have contests at skee-ball, contests with basketball; we race each other at the cars and randomly play various other games--cheering each other on. And then, of course, we take a million pictures at the Chuck E. Cheese portrait studio: all three kids, Jace with Savana, Jace with Darian, Roy and me, Roy and me with one of the girls doing a photo bomb, and so on. We do this every single time we go. I'm not sure why as I don't know what happens to all of those pictures we've taken over the years.

I should have kept them, placed them in a folder. But I didn't.

And then everybody gives their tickets to Jace and he heads off to the counter to buy his beloved prizes.

Chuck E. Cheese has played a monumental part in our kids' childhoods. We first started going there when we lived in Wisconsin near my sister Tami. We would load up all of our kids on birthdays and head over for an evening of fun. And now, when the Lewis fam comes to visit, we still go to Chuck E. Cheese, the majority of the kids ranging in age from 17-21. And then, of course, Jace. But we all have fun and nobody seems sad when we say Let's go to Chuck E. Cheese!

Roy and I were the last to leave yesterday afternoon as Jace piled in with the girls in the little red pickup. Jace didn't want to go with us to Sam's, preferring the company of his sisters instead. As Roy and I were leaving, I said, "I used to think that the day would come when we wouldn't come to Chuck E. Cheese anymore; but I don't think that's true. About the time Jace is done with it, we'll be in the midst of grandkids and the cycle will start all over again."

And that's just fine with me. Bring on the skee ball, the basketball, and the Chuck E. Cheese portrait studio.

Maybe, when the grandkids come along, I'll be smarter.

Maybe I'll actually save the pictures this time around, placing them in an ever-growing folder.