I have to admit that homelessness never felt so good.I don’t mean to make light of not having a home of our own to call for this 2 weeks. But it really feels nice. It’s a relief to know that we unloaded our condo, and now we’re down to getting our house. I’m excited to get our stuff in there and get some paint up on those walls.
We’ve been here at Kwasi’s mom’s house 3 nights and 2 days. It’s actually been working out just fine. Kwabena’s got his own room and bed, Ohene has been sleeping with Kwasi’s mom, and Kwasi and me are in the other bedroom upstairs. It’s actually comfortable, the bed. It’s a small “full” size, much smaller than our King, but we’ve been making it work. I’ve been so exhausted by the time I go to sleep that I just crash out and nothing really wakes me.
The best part has been having Kwasi’s mom helping out with the kids. As I mentioned, Ohene’s been sleeping with her, and since she goes to bed fairly early, Ohene has been going to be early, as well. Kwabena has been sleeping at a decent time, too.
Yesterday we hung out with Heidi, Isabella, and Aiden. We went to Big Lots for a little, a new one in Columbia that just opened up, and then we hit Old Navy for a few $5 shirts, and then the park. Afterward, driving down 29, I got the great idea to go drive by the new house. Kwabena’s not been expressing himself verbally about how he feels about the move, but he’s been acting out a bit at daycare. The other day he did confess that he was sad about moving, and missed his house. So yesterday when we were driving back from the new house, I meant to make an early turn to get back to Kwasi’s mom’s house, but accidentally kept straight, as if we were going to our old house. Kwabena kept pointing to the left saying, “Nooo! You have to turn THAT way to go to Nana Ba’s house!” I tried to explain to him that we don’t, that we have to keep straight. I turned and looked and the poor boy’s face was torn up, like he was slowly losing control of his emotions, like the damn was about to break. I had to pull over and turn around and ask him if he was sad about our house, if he missed it. He didn’t really say yes or no, but when I asked him if he wanted to go past our old house to wave “hi” and “bye” to it, he said yes. Once we rode past, he brightened up immediately.
Poor thing 🙁 It made ME want to cry seeing him like that. I know this process has got to be hard on him, even though he doesn’t show it much. But the fact that he reacted that way goes to prove to you that is being affected by this. I will ask him if he misses our old house, and he says yes, that he misses his room.
This morning, however, reaffirms why I am happy about this move: Kwabena wanted to play soccer, so he and I (and Ohene) went out back in Kwasi’s mom’s townhouse backyard (small, but plenty of space to kick a little ball), and Kwabena loved it outside! He was kicking the ball back and forth with me, happy with his abilities to kick it “really good”, and was getting sweaty and tired. And all I could think of was how in a couple weeks, we’ll have a nice-sized backyard for our kiddos to run and play and even put up soccer goalie posts so that he can really play soccer! I can’t wait!
So this weekend has been pretty relaxing. It’s almost been a little “what do I do now??” sort of feeling, because I’m so used to having to jump up and clean, clean, clean or pack, pack, pack. Now, I can relax, play with the kids, and not have to feel like there is something more pressing that needs to get done. May as well enjoy it before the UNpacking sensation comes!
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