It is the last day of Christmas break for our college student and seriously, the last 3 days have been probably the best ever…my friends of college students, past and present may have experienced this, but this is a first for us. I have to ask, why is it that now they all get along, just when she is about to leave again?

I am sure that they have their moments when I am not looking, at other times of the year, but all weekend, they have been (particularly and consistently):

• nice to each other;
• laughing together;
• working to do things that help out around the house;
• making jokes at their parents’ expense; and,
• being the kind of siblings that you want them to continue to be.

With today being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we have one more day off from school when it is wickedly cold out for some reason. (This cold-spell matters, I promise.)  It was not a “holiday weekend” per se, with things to celebrate, but certainly we have had things to reflect upon in our own lives and in the lives around us.

• How can we be better?
• How can we help?
• How can we work together?
• How can we be more accepting and open minded?

All worthy questions and yet, their interactions with each other have been the most amazing and incredible.

In spite of the 3-cooped up days spent mostly at home (because of the aforementioned cold weather continuing) – in addition to a short bout of the stomach flu for one of the kids – I am pleasantly surprised.  I am smiling, as I muse to my husband; the irony that now they all get along just when we have to tear them apart again.  So, in the spirit of learning from others and being optimistic, here’s to hoping they pick up where they have left off.  We hope for a sibling reunion later this spring when she comes home again for another long stretch of time. It’s been a good time. I don’t want to be sad that it’s over, but still, I am.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl