Dear Ma & Ta,

Camp is okay, but what I really want is to be home in my own house, with my own bed and freezing air conditioning! The kids here are okay, but the counselors make me go swimming and they want me to dive! No way!!! Eight more days to go, and then I can wave goodbye to the mice and bears.  Can’t wait to be home!

I have to learn six Rashis b’al peh, my social studies report on The Chinese Industrial Revolution is due on Thursday, and I have Rebbetzin Meyerowitz for dikduk tomorrow! I am SO stressed out! The good news is that The Play is in about a month, so we’ll be starting to work on that soon.  Meaning: no real class for like two weeks! Yahoo! (Hope I get into Dance).  Can’t wait!!

I was so exhausted yesterday that I fell asleep on the bus ride home!  My knees are killing from the Russian Soldier dance, and I’m insanely nervous that the Gym dance won’t be approved.  The play is in, like, ten days, and if I can’t get enough time for dance practice, it’s going to be a disaster!  Help! I can’t wait ‘till this thing is over!

My suitcases are pretty much packed. I have to run out and get that converter thingy-bob, and I need to call Tanta Yetty to get the phone numbers of my Israeli relatives. I’m petrified but also ultra-excited! I’ve never been away from home for so long… 24 hours ‘till lift off! I can’t wait for this chavayah to begin!

My suitcases are pretty much packed.  Good thing I gained weight; it’ll come in handy when I sit on my suitcases to try to get them to close. Can’t believe I’ll be back in galus in a day- and-a-half. It’s so hard to leave, but I do miss sleeping on a real mattress and having my own room.  Does this mean I’m almost officially an adult? Can’t wait!

My mother and sister have been working on the seating for two full days. I still have to go for my final fitting, pick up my headpiece, get my nails done… I’m really not happy with those white shoes.  Maybe I can quickly run into B’Shoe Tova. My friends made me one of those cute countdown calendars. Only two more pages to rip off! So nervous, so happy, so excited! Can’t wait!

People are weird. In shul, somebody asked me if I’m having twins.  My husband has been getting p’sichah for the past three months.  And today, the crossing guard at the school on the corner informed me that I’m having a boy!  At this point, I just want to get it over with.  Three days overdue and counting… Can’t wait to meet the little guy.

Mazel tov. It was a girl. And she’s not little. But she is cuddly and adorable, like a pink teddy bear, which is a good thing because she still wakes up every night. I feel like I’m sleepwalking. Nursing. Burping. Diapering. Nursing. Burping. Diapering. No idea what we are eating for supper. How many more weeks of this waking up meshigas? I would pay big bucks for a good night’s rest. Can’t wait…

Forget about sleep. My youngest is finally sleeping through the night, but does that help? My brain is too busy worrying about the baby who needs to have his adenoids removed, the middle ones who don’t stop fighting, the kid who’s acting up in school, and now my oldest wants to start shidduchim!

How can I invite a boy into a house decorated with sticky fingerprints, festooned with girly paraphernalia, and decorated in Early American Pioneer Meets Sixties Groovester?  Maybe one day, when they’re all grown up, I can clean, and it will stay that way. I could even redecorate… Hey, I’m crazy about my kids, but it’s kind of nice to think about a calmer, cleaner domestic future. Looking forward to that part!

My name? Savti. No, I’m not telling you how old I am — old enough to know better.  The kids grew up and out, but it turned out to be really hard to get used to a calm home. It does stay clean now… kind of.  Sometimes it’s almost eerily quiet; sort of sad.

Thankfully, a couple of grandkids are coming for Shabbos! I bought all their favorite nosh and made the Shabbos dishes they like.  I know there will be fights, and they’ll probably leave sticky fingerprints on my new window treatments, but it’s all good.

They’ll fill my home with noise and joy. They should be here in an hour or so… Literally counting the minutes. I can’t wait!

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 795)