It's Always Better When We're Together

It's 8:15 p.m., Saturday night. My husband is in Seattle at a bachelor party involving a shooting range, strippers and Lord knows what else. He went with his brother and I imagine that they are having big fun, not so much because of the scenery, just because they are together. Fun follows them. They can be a bit of a dynamic duo, Batman and Robin style.
I feel like I just took a big exhale, all 3 kids are in bed and asleep, the house is quiet, the dog is eating what I should be sweeping off the dining room floor, the remnants of a dinner we spent in good company.
My sister-in-law came over with her daughter tonight, to have dinner together, to hang out while our husbands get into trouble. Her 15 month old is used to the crazy mix of my children, folds right into it, and doesn't seem to bat an eye at all the chaos, despite being an only child. I'm sure her house must be quieter than ours. In the short couple of hours my niece was here, she split her chin open on the front steps (no stitches required), rode a skateboard for a brief moment and landed on her head (this is why you don't leave a 5 year old in charge of smaller children - no concussion), played hard and left with a smile.
At some point in the evening, I found myself singing, "Welcome to the jungle...we got fun and games...", Guns and Roses style. Things get a little crazy. I catch myself every now and then looking at my life from the outside, wondering what someone else (tonight, that someone being my sister-in-law) must think when they watch the whirlwind that spins round my house in an evening. My kids have a lot of energy, are loud, rambunctious, silly, yell at each other when they are mad, but are good kids, really. The level of energy in the house amps up and I find myself right there in the mix of it. I'm so excited to have adult conversation, to have someone to share in the madness, that I get all wound up, too. It's not as if with 4 children under the age of 6, there is ever a quiet, uninterrupted moment. Someone always needs something. Tonight when I looked in, I just felt satisfied, content.
The beauty of it is, somehow, amidst the tornado of movement and little voices, we find a way to connect, to get dinner on the table, everyone fed and to share stories about where we are, what we are struggling with, what we are dreaming about or are inspired by at the moment and where we are at in our relationships. It's really an amazing thing. I guess we have been doing this since Ruby was born, 5+ years ago, and we've added one child at a time to the mix, and so we have adapted and by now, its just part of the norm.
I'm thankful that I have her in my life. That regardless of what might be going on around her, around me, we find a way to sink in, dive deep and embrace what is. I never walk away frustrated, wishing something was different. I just feel grateful that we married into each other's lives. In the words of Jack Johnson....It's always better when we're together.