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Writer's pictureTarren Gilchrist

Surprises.

Updated: Mar 27, 2023

Captain's Log


The crew received a wonderful surprise last weekend when Relic came home for a quick visit. He asked us to keep it a secret from his sister so he could surprise her. If ever there was a moment I wished I’d caught on camera it would have been that moment. She jumped up, running to give him a big hug exclaiming “You’re Here!” It was so sweet.


Number 2 and I congratulated ourselves with wet eyes about how much our children love each other, and how lucky we are to have such delightful children. But like any seasoned parent, this feeling of euphoria faded all too soon and they were back to bickering about whose turn it was to put the dishes away.


It was a quick visit, but he managed to cram a lot into the 36 hours at home. He arrived home at 12:45 Saturday afternoon and by 1:15 pm he had raided the pantry, unloaded his laundry, and confiscated the truck keys and my credit card. I happily washed his gross ass sheets that I'm sure have not been cleaned in the three weeks since I made his dorm room bed. I smiled dumbly as I folded laundry while he lounged on the sofa filling his sweet smug face with snacks. My wise parenting mentor Jen has reassured me that the honeymoon stage will end quickly and their squatter habits will help make the transition into adulthood easier.


We had a scheduled power outage promptly at 8 Sunday morning and despite mentally and emotionally preparing the crew they were shocked and bored before breakfast. It was touch and go for a while but they managed to rough it out. In the end, the Duchess decided 4 hours in a car with me was better than at home with Number 2 and zero power. It was nice to have a navigator along to return Relic to school, however, the 4 hours of Taylor Swift was a bit much.


Although having Relic home for the weekend definitely had everyone in a happy mood the complaints still must be logged.



  1. My thriftiness is not appreciated when buying soup, anything other than Campbell’s and the Duchess will be speaking to the Admiral.

  2. Our internet sucks.

  3. The freshmen flu Relic brought home was not appreciated.

  4. It’s too cold for open windows, no one cares that my internal body temperature is 1000 degrees, or when I tell them to put a sweater on.


On the plus side, the list is shorter than in previous weeks, so I'm taking that as a win.





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