Pure and utter chaos. Beautiful chaos.

The boys are over.

It’s Saturday and I’ve dropped my daughter off at her friend’s house for a sleepover. I expect to come home to an empty house; my husband and son at their routine Saturday afternoon spent at a local Pokémon battling club. Instead I step into my breezeway to see multiple pairs of muddy shoes scattered about. He must have stayed home and had friends over.

This is a fabulous thing. As parents who had school-age kids during covid, we are always happy to have someone over/have our kids over someone else’s house. No matter how weird/awkward/loud/aggressive/messy the situation is, it’s better than the silence of isolation. And let me tell you, it almost always gets weird/awkward/loud/agreessive/messy. But it’s all beautiful.

Right now, the boys (4 of them of varying ages around 11) are playing “IRL Among Us.” They had my husband hide stuff around the house for them to find whilst every two minutes they’re in a new round of figuring out who the Imposter is within their group. They are SCREAMING at the top of their lungs as they run all around the house. When I first got home, I sat at the kitchen table to eat my lunch - the table that also happened to be their hub for meeting and accusing/choosing new roles. I sat amid the absolute chaos and thought, “I love this but it’s a lot. I don’t know how long I can take it.” But then I remembered how important it is. How lovely it is that my son rode his bike, gathered neighborhood kids and, on a rainy day, provided a place for everyone to play. No screens. No isolation. PLAY.