Rearview Mirrors....

I took a drive today. Shawn is working a long weekend in no-where ville and inadvertently left his cell phone on the kitchen counter. I decided to load up the kids and take it to him. It's about an hour away so I used my rear view mirror quite a bit. Not in the fashion that would make my drivers ed. teacher proud. I used it for more of a monitoring system. Always checking to make sure everyone stays buckled and seated. Checking to see what window the kid talking about the cows is pointing out. Checking to see what the scuffle is. I also use it just to watch my kids being kids without them knowing that I'm watching. I saw a lot today. Landon was quietly watching Sponge bob. Really quietly. I asked him a question and he never answered. I realized he was asleep. I wasn't sure about that because his eyes were covered with sunglasses. Too cute for my sound asleep 2 year old to be hiding that he was asleep because he was "cool". Kennedy's appearance had me chuckling out loud. Yesterday she discovered a small lock of hair on the top of her head that is about one inch long. It stands straight up in the air. Like Alfalfa. She told me she wets it and it lays flat, but then once it dries it stands up again. Watching her interact with the boys with that chunk of hair making her look all out of sorts cracked me up. We enjoyed our time with Shawn. Actually, I ended up taking the younger 3 to a park while he finished up a patient and the older kids played DS in the lobby. I didn't get to see him as long as I'd have liked. When it was time to go he loaded us all into the van and kissed us goodbye. I looked in my rear view mirror so I could back up. I watched my main squeeze walking with his back towards us heading in the emergency room doors. The way he walks is so familiar to me. His long white doctor coat was flapping around the back of his knees and my heart strings pulled. I haven't missed him like I did at that moment for a long time. Not the "I really need your help at home" kind of missed him, but the "I want to sit on the couch holding your hand and watch the newest episode of the Office together" kind of missed. I truly missed him. I didn't realize how necessary that rear view mirror in my van truly is until I spent time driving today.